The 2026 World Cup has been a festival of heroes, villains and unforgettable storylines.
Some arrived chasing immortality and left with their reputations rewritten. Others came as favorites and departed in disgrace.
It was a tournament that proved the World Cup is no longer just decided on the pitch.
Careers were made, reputations were destroyed, brands became global giants and entire nations changed the way the world viewed them.
Now the confetti has settled, it’s time to decide who conquered the World Cup — and who was left counting the cost …
Winner: David Beckham
While many brands cashed in on the World Cup, no one played the commercial game better than David Beckham.
The former England captain, 51, turned the tournament into his own marketing masterclass, reportedly banking an estimated $25 million through partnerships that saw him hawking Adidas, Pepsi, Home Depot, Verizon, McDonald’s, Lay’s, Bank of America, Lenovo, Ninja and Stella Artois (notably, the official sponsor of the World Cup).
He was everywhere: in commercials, in interviews talking up the competition and in VIP suites alongside wife Victoria, whose impassive reactions at games broke the internet.
“This has been a great World Cup for branding and especially for David Beckham, who has really stood out,” says Rick Burton, Emeritus Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University. “He is a commercial juggernaut.”
And the very fact that the World Cup was held in America — and proved such a success — is a win for Beckham, who has been determined to make soccer relevant here. By first joining the LA Galaxy as a player in 2007, then becoming co-owner of MLS’s Inter Miami and convincing superstar Lionel Messi to sign on, he has done more for American soccer than virtually anyone else in the modern game.
Becks even got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, timed to the second day of the World Cup and with a green (rather than red) carpet that looked just like turf.
“When David arrived, Major League Soccer had 13 teams,” his good pal Tom Cruise said during the induction ceremony. “Today, it has 30. This is partly down to a pledge Beckham made … The first was to win championships for the Galaxy. The second was to help build soccer in the US …
“There is no Messi in this league, if not for David Beckham,” Cruise said.
Winner: America’s reputation
Before kick-off, the doubters lined up to question the Cup being held across nine states (as well as Mexico and Canada). Would fans really pay the eye-watering ticket prices? Would a nation often accused of treating soccer as a second-tier sport embrace the biggest tournament on the planet?
The answer was an emphatic yes.
From Atlanta to Seattle, New York to Los Angeles, foreign fans fell for American hospitality, taking to social media to celebrate everything from the air-conditioning (“It’s like stepping into a fridge!”) to the big cars, truck stops — particularly Buc-ee’s — and fast food.
They really fell in love with the food: Raising Cane’s. Chick-fil-A. Trader Joe’s. Barbecue in Dallas and Kansas City. “The mind-blowing revelation that is the Cheesecake Factory.”
And the MVP? Ranch dressing.
One England supporter told the BBC he spent $300 shipping 20 bottles of it back to the UK: “I’ll be having it on my roast dinners and fish and chips.”
Winner: Mexico’s fandom
Mexico didn’t lift the trophy – England ended their run in the quarter-finals – but El Tri’s supporters won the popularity contest.
The “Green Wave” turned Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca and Estadio Guadalajara into the loudest, most colorful arenas of the competition, drowning out rival supporters and outnumbering opposition fans five to one.
The obsession went far beyond the stands. According to Statista, around 92% of Mexico’s population followed the tournament, making them the most engaged nation in the World Cup.
And that passion became a commercial juggernaut.
While exact figures remain undisclosed, Adidas revealed Mexico’s shirt was the tournament’s biggest seller, beating traditional powerhouses including finalists Spain and Argentina.
“It’s one of the clearest real-time reads we’ve seen on how a team’s performance translates into consumer demand,” said Brendan Dunne, senior director of customer community and engagement at online marketplace StockX.
Winner: Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland arrived in America as a soccer wrecking ball — a 6-foot-five goal machine built to leave defenders in pieces.
He left as something even bigger: a superstar fans felt they actually knew.
On social media, he shared his travels, fan encounters and the lighter side of life on the road. Nothing captured his new American love affair better than his shopping trips.
In Dallas, ahead of Norway’s game against Ivory Coast, Haaland walked into Wild Bill’s Western Store and embraced cowboy culture, buying a Stetson Brenham hat, Dan Post python boots and a T-shirt declaring: “Y’all Can Kiss My Dallas.”
He also left with a $750 stuffed “Whiskey Raccoon” and two taxidermy squirrels costing $450 each.
Asked about his growing popularity in America, Haaland smiled: “I think it’s a good thing because I like the Americans. I think they are kind of hilarious as well. They are funny. I like the way they are.”
Winner: Retail brands
The expanded 48-team tournament delivered a global advertising bonanza, with sponsors fighting for a slice of football’s biggest stage across television and social media, as well as in stadiums themselves. (And the new hydration breaks provided even more opportunity for commercials.)
Adidas had the advantage as official supplier of the match balls and providing the shirts of 14 nations, including finalists Argentina and Spain, not to mention using Lionel Messi as the face of its campaigns.
LSEG Analytics predicted Adidas would see a 6.8% growth in World Cup quarter revenues as a result, significantly higher than rivals Nike.
That’s not to say Nike fared poorly.
As the manufacturer of 12 team kits at the World Cup, including the USA, France, Brazil and England, they sold 2.5 times as many as they did at the last tournament in Qatar in 2022.
They even sold out of USMNT shirts two weeks into the tournament as Mauricio Pochettino’s team started the tournament impressively with wins against Paraguay and Australia. (By the time Nike had restocked, though, the USA had been eliminated.)
But, according to YouGov research, coffee brand Cafe Bustelo generated the highest World Cup marketing buzz among more than 2,000 tracked brands, ranking first for ad awareness, consumer conversation and purchase intent — all thanks to its “Game Face” campaign, when it turned its iconic yellow coffee cans into collectible World Cup merchandise.
Loser: Cristiano Ronaldo
Having won everything in the game except the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo wanted one final moment of immortality. Despite his relentless quest for the body and image of a man half his age, he discovered that even soccer’s greatest perfectionist cannot outrun Father Time forever.
The Portuguese icon looked every one of his 41 years as he labored around the pitch and struggled to impact games. Yes, he scored three goals, but two of them were against the minnows of Uzbekistan and the other was a penalty against Croatia. His performances merely strengthened the argument of those critics who said his place in the team was based on reputation rather than performance.
Portugal’s brutal decision not to bench the legend for the greater good cost them dearly — and will tarnish his legacy.
Loser: Hydration breaks
With temperatures as high as 91.4 degrees and humidity hitting 65% during England’s clash with Norway in Miami — and every match in Dallas, Houston and Miami played in conditions above 94 degrees — FIFA decided players needed protection.
The solution: mandatory three-minute hydration breaks midway through each half, giving players a chance to cool down and receive tactical instructions from their coaches.
But what was designed as a safety measure quickly became a flashpoint.
To critics, the breaks effectively turned soccer into a four-quarter sport, shattering the game’s natural rhythm, killing momentum and adding to the stop-start frustration already created by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) checking decisions made by the on-field referee.
Loser: Christian Pulisic
This was supposed to be Pennsylvania-bred Christian Pulisic’s coronation. Instead, it became his disappearing act.
Before the Cup began, his face loomed over billboards. He starred in blockbuster commercials alongside Lionel Messi. He was the golden boy, the captain, the player carrying the weight of a nation.
But Pulisic failed to score a single goal all tournament, before limping off with a lower-leg injury during the USMNT’s 4-1 last-16 demolition by Belgium.
Captain America turned into Captain Invisible.
