The 2026 World Cup kicks off in Mexico, with the men’s tournament set to become Fifa’s biggest showpiece ever.
An incredible 48 teams are taking part in the games, held across three nations: Mexico, the US and Canada.
But the sport bonanza has been mired in controversy over costly ticket prices, travel bans and visa issues, and local protests.
It is also the first time ever that a host nation is at war with one of the countries participating, leading to huge uncertainty over the Iran team’s ability to partake in the games in the US.
We speak to our football issues correspondent Dale Johnson.
New episodes of the Global News Podcast are published twice a day. You can listen here: https://link.mgln.ai/GNP-YT
And you can find more of our YouTube episodes here: https://bbc.in/GlobalNewsPodcast
