FIFA World Cup - the politics and the matches

FIFA World Cup 2026: Big Surprises, Big Controversies & Why Politics Matters | Takaro Kids

In this Takaro Kids episode, hosts discuss the FIFA World Cup 2026 taking place across the US, Canada, and Mexico, noting it began June 11 and features 48 teams playing 104 matches. They explain why the World Cup is considered the world’s biggest sporting event, citing around five billion people engaging with the 2022 Qatar tournament. The conversation covers political and visa-related controversies affecting teams, officials, and fans, including issues involving Iran, travel bans impacting multiple countries, and individuals like Somali referee Omar Artan and other accredited staff being denied entry. They also highlight early group-stage surprises and results, including Spain drawing Cape Verde, Iran drawing New Zealand, Germany’s 7–1 win over Curaçao, Portugal drawing Congo, and the USA beating Paraguay 4–1, while encouraging listeners to enjoy the games while paying attention to the broader background. The episode ends with a quiz asking when the US last hosted the World Cup.

00:00 Welcome and Topic
00:30 World Cup Basics
02:09 Politics and Iran
04:48 Fans and Money
07:39 Referees Denied Entry
10:00 Big Early Matches
14:19 Why Background Matters
16:04 Quiz and Farewell

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Transcript

Debkanya 0:00

Mics camera action Welcome back to Takaro Kids Now this week Kiran and I are going to talk about something that was requested by some of our listeners We're listening to you We take your

Kiran 0:13

few of them actually

Debkanya 0:13

Yeah we take your requests very very seriously and this is something we love talking about as well which is sports And right now one of the biggest sporting events ever is taking place across three countries We're talking about

Kiran 0:27

The FIFA World Cup

Debkanya 0:29

Woohoo

Kiran 0:30

2026 And yeah it's happening across three countries It's happening in the North American region so it's the US Canada and Mexico. Most of the group stages are being played in Mexico right now. And and it's been really really exciting to start. There are multiple countries playing and so it's an actual World Cup unlike you know the basketball baseball in the

Debkanya 0:53

Or

Kiran 0:54

which is called World

Debkanya 0:55

cricket

Kiran 0:56

or World Series Cricket at least has a few countries

Debkanya 0:59

yeah Cricket comes close

Kiran 1:00

has only all the American states

Debkanya 1:02

Hmm

Kiran 1:03

anyway this is an actual World Cup. It kicked off on June 11th What's also very interesting is the reason we call it the world's biggest sporting event is because uh if you take last World Cup. When was the last World Cup Debbie

Debkanya 1:17

Well this happens every four years so it was in 2022. It happened in Qatar I'm sure our football fans who are listening already know this. But yeah

Kiran 1:27

Oh my God why would you even have to say that. But point that I was trying to make is that it actually had five billion people engaging watching following matches that year which is crazy. Five billion people. The world has about eightplus billion people. More than half of the world was actually watching this event

Debkanya 1:54

And that makes sense right I mean this World Cup we have 48 national teams that are competing across 104 matches across these three countries. Like you said it's happening in Canada in Mexico and in the United States. When you have such a big event such an important event that involves most of the world there's bound to be some controversy around it. And this one too

Kiran 2:18

Cost

Debkanya 2:19

has its fair share and maybe more than its fair share mainly because of all the trouble the players and the teams have had to go through just to be able to play in the World Cup this time.

Kiran 2:30

Yeah There's a lot of uh political unrest around the world and that actually has a direct bearing on an event like this. So so let's start with for example Iran.

Debkanya 2:41

Yeah

Kiran 2:42

Everyone knows what's happening. Apparently there's a truce agreement Apparently there isn't. Then again there is one then there isn't and there's fighting and you know so many things that have been happening over the last few weeks. What is interesting is because of this unrest the Iranian team was actually not allowed participate in the World Cup.

Debkanya 3:06

Yeah I mean Iran qualified for the World Cup Their players all worked really hard. They practiced. There were brutal qualifying matches across Asia They earned their spot. They are playing They're in Group G you know where most of the matches are gonna be in LA and Vancouver which is in Canada. But there's been a lot of trouble. The United States government has said Oh you can only stay for a certain amount of time. After playing your match you have to head back You have to get out of the country. There's been a lot of back and forth in that sense So it's it's not uh been very pleasant at all because of course there's an ongoing war pretty much between the two countries.

Kiran 3:40

Yeah and and in fact they were not given visas

Debkanya 3:43

う ん

Kiran 3:43

so all the players were not given visas. In fact even the Football Federation of Iran the president

Debkanya 3:49

Yeah

Kiran 3:50

was denied a visa right. It's something that we should think about you know how a lot of things in the world are connected. We keep talking about this And so it's interesting to see you know a World Cup where for example one country is not allowed to even enter and play what does that mean Yes there are conflicts so is that right or wrong. We're not the ones to answer that. But it's worth of thinking about and getting your own perspective when you think about the politics around the world when you think about you know sports. Sports is a very high adrenaline event activity whatever it is. People get very passionate about sport. Whatever the sport may be from you know cricket to football to basketball to Winter Olympics. People get really really passionate about their country their teams. And so um is something that we should pause and just think about um you know the repercussions that

Debkanya 4:48

Yeah and the repercussions are not just on the players and the delegation that they travel with uh some of whom haven't been allowed for example this time from Iran. It also affects fans in a big big way. Like people wai wait for four years for the World Cup to arrive. People save up money A lot of you are fans I'm sure you've been waiting to you know for the World Cup to kick off. Uh you are watching all the matches even though it's happening late for India fans. But you know in this case a lot of fans from Iran have just not been allowed to go and watch the matches. They have to watch on the TV They .Cannot go because their visas have just not been granted or it's just been There's a blanket ban in fact Quite a few countries have faced this uh the travel bans to go to the to to the United States specifically. We're talking about 19 countries right 19 countries have faced outright bans and 20 more countries are facing partial restrictions and this doesn't even count the individuals that have been stopped from going attending Like a you know some people from Palestine for example have not been given visas or been allowed to travel uh for the World Cup. So it's very disappointing for a lot of people that they've not been able to engage. Some European football federations have called for some form of protest or boycott over this issue. Now remember the World Cup being such a huge event is also a great money maker for FIFA. It's a huge huge commercial undertaking which means they make so much money out of ticket sales

Kiran 6:12

at

Debkanya 6:12

Yeah It is a business. And they've seen that you know hotel bookings are not as high as they expected it to be because people just haven't been able to turn up.

Kiran 6:22

even if you think about broadcast rights right And and this is what um happens with all global sporting events from Wimbledon in tennis to World Cup Every country has to buy the broadcast rights in India someone else in the US, each country people need to buy the rights to show it on TV. So whatever the channel is pays money for it even that for example in this World Cup, FIFA had a lot of problem you know getting a few different countries to actually buy the broadcast rights. FIFA is an organization built towards promoting football. There's been a lot of politics attached to it this time and so that kind of creates a lot of tension. Even in India till the very last minute didn't have a broadcaster who was willing to spend on the broadcast rights right And I think it was just about a week and a half two weeks before the start of the World Cup when rights were given from an India perspective. So it is quite complicated when you bring in the business angle the economic angle to sport as

Debkanya 7:29

Yeah

Kiran 7:29

we should do another episode about that. You know the economic angle and the business angle of sport. But yeah going back you know it's not just the teams, it's not just the fans. There are also other people involved and the referee is one of the main guys in every single football match. One of them made big news again in the World Cup.

Debkanya 7:50

Yeah

Kiran 7:51

the World Cup even started. Omar Artan he is a referee from Somalia and he had been selected by FIFA to officiate matches at the World Cup which is a huge huge honor. And he's also I think the first ever Somali

Debkanya 8:06

He would have been Yeah

Kiran 8:07

given that

Debkanya 8:08

He would have been

Kiran 8:08

the first ever referee to be a part of the World Cup. But he arrived at the Miami Airport and he had all of the documentation. You know we we all know how much documentation we have to carry. But was turned away at immigration. The US immigration officers basically said Hey um we have a few concerns you and uh you cannot enter.

Debkanya 8:33

Can you imagine how disappointing that was

Kiran 8:36

yeah that disappointment. The sadness the frustration that you were going to be a part of the World Cup one of the first people from your country

Debkanya 8:44

Yeah

Kiran 8:45

you have been sent back. Ah that's

Debkanya 8:48

Yeah It's

Kiran 8:49

sad

Debkanya 8:50

really sad because I I mean this was a huge deal for the country itself. Somalia has been struggling over the years. They've had a lot of unrest as well but you know something like this is an honor for the whole country. Um so I'm sure that that didn't you know that's not gone down well at all There've been many other individuals like we mentioned like uh this Iraq's team photographer who's an accredited FIFAapproved member of the delegation. He was also denied entry into the country. Many cases of coaches doctors technical staff all who've just been turned away In spite of having everything in place just turned away and said Hey you can't come into the country So I mean that makes you think right? What is FIFA's role in all of this If FIFA is the organizer if FIFA is the putting all of this together saying We will give you the paperwork. We are inviting you to attend then what is that relationship that they have with the host country, which is the United States in this case that they cannot make you know this happen That their credentials don't really count.

Kiran 9:47

there's been a lot of politics. Sports does get very political and so you know it is um after all the biggest sporting event so there was bound to be a lot of this given where we are in the world and the state of the world today. But the football has also taken dominance and it has been an amazing start to the entire tournament. There have been some really stunning draws which no one expected to be draws There have been some stunning victories. There have been some expected victories. For example let's take Spain, came in as the number two

Debkanya 10:23

I think that's the big match everyone is talking about.

Kiran 10:25

Yeah the number two ranked uh you know country or team. They're the reigning European champions and they drew against Cape Verde.

Debkanya 10:35

Yeah

Kiran 10:36

That is ridiculous. Cape Verde has a 40yearold goalkeeper.

Debkanya 10:40

Wow

Kiran 10:41

who did not allow a single goal through right

Debkanya 10:44

That's right I mean this tiny tiny small island nation, off the coast of West Africa they're ranked 67th globally taking on the number two in the world and you know they it's a draw. Like they just couldn't. And it is insane right Because Spain had 27 shots at goal. Cape Verde had six. This guy the goalkeeper I hope I'm saying his name right Vozinha he didn't let a single goal through. That is something I mean a huge huge deal for that country. Then there's the other big match which was like we mentioned Iran. You know they played against New Zealand. Again this happened in LA Uh it was of course a lot of people have described it as a politically charged match because it is Iran after all. The first Iranian team to play on US soil. That also ended in a 2-2 draw. Of course there was controversy there too because um there was Mohammed Mohibi who headed home the equalizer. He celebrated in a strange way which people had some issues with. It looked like allegedly uh he made a firing a gun kind of a a hand gesture. Obviously considering everything that's going on that is absolutely not an okay thing to do so there's gonna be an investigation. FIFA has to investigate that further. He's of course denied it saying No no no I was just celebrating I didn't do anything of the sort. So all these stories are gonna keep coming out.

Kiran 12:06

Netherlands Netherlands and Japan drew That

Debkanya 12:09

Yeah

Kiran 12:10

That was again super surprising. Everyone was um really surprised I mean on the other side there was a absolute decimation -Germany vs Curaçao where Germany scored seven goals to one. That was absolute decimation. And then there was also a very surprising um you know Portugal match. Portugal played Congo,

Debkanya 12:31

Hmm

Kiran 12:32

they actually drew, which again was absolutely stunning for everyone that Portugal drew against Congo. And, um, you know, like we said, Spain drew to Cape Verde, two of the big football countries, and they drew against relatively small nations.

Debkanya 12:51

Yeah the I mean DRC or Congo didn't almost didn't make it to the World Cup this time by the way. They were also one of the countries that was kind of banned and then that was lifted because you know they they said that there was some irregularities where the government was getting too involved with the Football Federation.

Kiran 13:06

Yep

Debkanya 13:06

know So there was back and forth there. So they weren't going to be playing maybe but that you know thankfully that's happened I'm glad for Congo. And yeah good start for them as well draw against Portugal.

Kiran 13:16

And

Debkanya 13:16

USA did well against Paraguay with a 4-1 win. So the hosts are doing really well .France versus Senegal 3-1. Saudi Arabia Uruguay again a draw. Belgium versus Egypt again a draw.

Kiran 13:31

Lo- lots of draws, but on the other side, you know, you also look at a the match like, Qatar who was last, last World Cup, um, hosts. They lost 6-0 to current hosts Canada. 6-0, and, and that was crazy. Mexico, the current host, won against South Korea. That was a very interesting match as well, 1-0. Switzerland won 4-1 against Bosnia. So it's been a really, really exciting sort of start to the group matches, which, uh, which has been good because it's somehow taken away the whole political angle and gotten back to sport for what it is. You The fact that it is something people come to watch, support their teams, enjoy the ups and downs, and then, you know, just have fun with it

Debkanya 14:19

Absolutely But you know some of you might be wondering why we went into all of those all all the political news right at the top of this episode. It's because we think it's important that you know about the background and that's always been something we've tried to do. Always be curious and wonder and ask questions about what's happening. Yes it's easy to get lost in the fanfare and the color and the celebrations and the excitement of the sport but you have to pay attention to what's happening in the background. Who are the people who are planning everything. What's moving the different chess pieces on the board. So it that just gives you a larger perspective on the way things work in the world around you.

Kiran 14:56

Yep. geopolitical plays a role in such large events, right? So, um, I think it's always interesting to understand those backstories. You know, even the Super Bowl, is considered the World Cup for American football, which happened a few months ago as well. Even over there, there was a lot of controversy because, you know, it was, um, Bad Bunny who was the main,

Debkanya 15:19

Yeah

Kiran 15:20

singer at that Super Bowl, and that caused a lot of, um, sort of,

Debkanya 15:24

Cause he sang in Portuguese Spanish What did he sing in?

Kiran 15:28

Yeah, singing in Spanish for the, you know, American, NFL halftime. So, so yeah, every big sporting event has a lot of political background to it, and I think that's important to understand that you cannot, you know, separate the two to a large extent. Other than that, you know, enjoy the games and, uh, we're gonna keep tuned in as well and see what happens. If there are other exciting stories as we get towards the July, mid-July finals, um,

Debkanya 15:58

19th July

Kiran 15:59

here.

Debkanya 16:00

that's when it ends

Kiran 16:01

Yes, that's the finals.

Debkanya 16:04

Great So on that note we will end this episode but not before we give you your quiz question for today. The question we are asking this week is When was the last time the United States hosted the FIFA World Cup? Was it in 2006 Was it in 1994. Was it in 1998. Or was it in 2022.

Kiran 16:35

Okay then. Excellent question. Go do your research and come back with when was the last time US actually hosted the World Cup? We'll see if you get the right answer. As usual, if you know the answer, send it to us on our website, or ask your parents to message us on Instagram with the answer. In fact, we're going to introduce a brand new way of quizzing

Debkanya 17:05

Yes

Kiran 17:06

way more exciting. So hold on to your horses. Over the next couple of weeks, we're gonna start introducing you to this new quiz, uh,

Debkanya 17:15

Format

Kiran 17:16

way to quiz. Yeah, a new

Debkanya 17:17

yeah

Kiran 17:18

That's the word.

Debkanya 17:19

That's the word

Kiran 17:20

So we're gonna introduce that to you, and that's gonna be super, super exciting. There's gonna be ladders, there's gonna be bumper prizes, so keep your eyes out for that

Debkanya 17:29

You're not going to win a ladder. That's not one of the prizes. But yeah there's gonna be a leaderboard.

Kiran 17:36

Definitely won't have to put up with Debbie's humor.

Debkanya 17:40

Of course you do

Kiran 17:41

definitely not the win.

Debkanya 17:42

Of course you do

Kiran 17:43

but yeah.

Debkanya 17:45

Anyway so yeah so that's coming up so stay tuned and yep It's time for us to say goodbye

Kiran 17:52

Bye-bye