World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament's return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world's biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year's global event.

A new system is in place for the 2026 tournament which keeps the top-rated teams apart until the later stages, in theory at least

The 2026 FIFA World Cup winner will most likely be a repeat victor. Six of the seven countries with the shortest odds to win the World Cup have at least one championship in their history. Spain, the 2010 champion, comes into North America as the slight favorite over two-time winner France.

FIFA WORLD CUP 2026: Who knows whether it will be the defending champions Argentina holding onto their title once again, England’s golden generation finally lifting the trophy, or France adding another star to their jersey.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni drew criticism for an unusual comment about Lionel Messi's role before the World Cup.

France enter the FIFA World Cup 2026 as the top-ranked team, led by Didier Deschamps. They aim to make history by winning their third title and are favourites in Group I, featuring Kylian Mbappe, who is on the verge of becoming France's all-time leading scorer.

Fans face high costs for the FIFA World Cup 2026, with some fans potentially spending over $30,000 to attend the whole tournament.

In the early 1930s, Austria fielded what became known as the Wunderteam and reached the semifinal of the 1934 World Cup before falling to host Italy. Austria was led by top player and one of soccer’s first global stars, Matthias Sindelar, known as “The Mozart of Football.”

Winning one World Cup is the ultimate achievement. Winning two in a row is one of the sport’s rarest accomplishments.

Lionel Messi and the reigning champions are here in Group J. Argentina is here, and it looks like they got a pretty favorable group. Austria has not been to the World Cup since 1998, Jordan has never been,