Eyes on the (round) ball

We spend so much of our time focused on oval-ball footy, it’s easy to forget that Australia’s great love affair, at grassroots level at least, is with the beautiful game. For many of you, tomorrow morning will be spent clutching coffee on the sidelines at a junior match, or pulling on cleats and shin-pads yourselves before grabbing a sausage (or if you play for the right club, a souvlaki) at the fundraising barbecue.

Among children, soccer is the second-most popular participation sport after swimming, according to an Australian Sports Commission survey. Among adults, it’s the third-most popular, after swimming and cycling.

The beauty of soccer is its inclusivity. In a multicultural city like ours, it has room for everyone: new Australians, multi-generational Australians, girls and boys, tiny tots and the more mature. A strong local club, powered by volunteers whose dedication leaves me in awe, binds everyone together, and can be the beating heart of a local community.

One of the enduring puzzles of Australian soccer is how it still struggles to translate this grassroots success into a popular national competition (or stable governance). But when it comes to major international events, Australia’s army of soccer fans rallies. Alarms are set for the wee hours. Green and gold garb is pulled out of drawers. Back-up teams are selected (hup, Holland, hup!).

The build-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup began in earnest this week, and so did the Herald’s coverage. Our team of soccer experts – Nick Ralston and Vince Rugari who are on the ground in North America, and Emma Kemp, Frances Howe and Billie Eder who will cover it from Herald HQ – put together this group by group guide and these tips, while our visual stories team produced this interactive World Cup predictor. We also asked our AI model to simulate the World Cup 100,000 times. Check out the results on our Monte Carlo simulator.

Nick is the Herald’s deputy editor and a devout soccer enthusiast. He plays every weekend, after ferrying his kids to their matches too. He is in Vancouver with Vince, and says the United States wasn’t paying much attention to the World Cup during the week; the National Hockey League finals were on in Canada, and the NBA playoffs involving the New York Knicks had been dominating headlines in the US. Finishing touches were being put on the fan zones right up to kick-off today.

“But then, almost like magic overnight, the World Cup has very much come alive,” Nick says. “There are Mexican jerseys all over downtown Vancouver and Granville Street, in the heart of the city, transforming