The 2026 World Cup has been a festival of heroes, villains and unforgettable storylines.<\/p>\n
Some arrived chasing immortality and left with their reputations rewritten. Others came as favorites and departed in disgrace.<\/p>\n
It was a tournament that proved the World Cup is no longer just decided on the pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While many brands cashed in on the World Cup, no one played the commercial game better than David Beckham. REUTERS<\/p>\n
Careers were made, reputations were destroyed, brands became global giants and entire nations changed the way the world viewed them.<\/p>\n
Now the confetti has settled, it\u2019s time to decide who conquered the World Cup \u2014 and who was left counting the cost \u2026<\/p>\n
Winner: David Beckham<\/p>\n
While many brands cashed in on the World Cup, no one played the commercial game better than David Beckham.<\/p>\n
The former England captain, 51, turned the tournament into his own marketing masterclass, reportedly banking an estimated $25 million<\/a> through partnerships that saw him hawking Adidas, Pepsi, Home Depot, Verizon, McDonald\u2019s, Lay\u2019s, Bank of America, Lenovo, Ninja and Stella Artois (notably, the official sponsor of the World Cup).<\/p>\n The former England captain, 51, turned the tournament into his own marketing masterclass, reportedly banking an estimated $25 million through partnerships including with Lenovo (above). Lenovo<\/p>\n He also starred it an ad for Home Depot. The Home Depot\/YouTube<\/p>\n He was everywhere: in commercials, in interviews talking up the competition and in VIP suites alongside wife Victoria, whose impassive reactions<\/a> at games broke the internet.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been a great World Cup for branding and especially for David Beckham, who has really stood out,\u201d says Rick Burton, Emeritus Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University. \u201cHe is a commercial juggernaut.\u201d<\/p>\n And the very fact that the World Cup was held in America \u2014\u00a0and proved such a success \u2014\u00a0is 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\u2019s Inter Miami and convincing superstar Lionel Messi to sign on<\/a>, he has done more for American soccer than virtually anyone else in the modern game.<\/p>\n Beckham appeared in an ad for Ninja.<\/p>\n And he was the star of a commercial for Stella Artois, the official sponsor of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Stella Artois\/YouTube<\/p>\n Becks even got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame<\/a>, timed to the second day of the World Cup and with a green (rather than red) carpet that looked just like turf.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen David arrived, Major League Soccer had 13 teams,\u201d his good pal Tom Cruise said during the induction ceremony. \u201cToday, it has 30. This is partly down to a pledge Beckham made \u2026 The first was to win championships for the Galaxy. The second was to help build soccer in the US \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no Messi in this league, if not for David Beckham,\u201d Cruise said.<\/p>\n Winner: America\u2019s reputation<\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n The answer was an emphatic yes.<\/p>\n From Atlanta to Seattle, New York to Los Angeles, foreign fans fell for American hospitality \u2014\u00a0and food. @hughandmeg\/TikTok<\/p>\n Foreigners celebrated truck stops, air-conditioning and larger-than-life goods. lisandru_susini\/Tiktok<\/p>\n 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<\/a> (\u201cIt\u2019s like stepping into a fridge!\u201d) to the big cars<\/a>, truck stops \u2014\u00a0particularly Buc-ee\u2019s \u2014 and fast food.<\/p>\n They\u00a0really\u00a0fell in love with the food<\/a>: Raising Cane\u2019s. Chick-fil-A. Trader Joe\u2019s. Barbecue in Dallas and Kansas City. \u201cThe mind-blowing revelation that is the Cheesecake Factory.\u201d<\/p>\n And the MVP? Ranch dressing<\/a>.<\/p>\n One England supporter told the BBC <\/a>he spent $300 shipping 20 bottles of it back to the UK: \u201cI\u2019ll be having it on my roast dinners and fish and chips.\u201d<\/p>\n Winner: Mexico\u2019s fandom<\/p>\n Mexico didn\u2019t lift the trophy \u2013 England ended their run in the quarter-finals \u2013 but El Tri\u2019s supporters won the popularity contest.<\/p>\n The \u201cGreen Wave\u201d turned Mexico City\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n The \u201cGreen Wave\u201d turned Mexico City\u2019s Estadio Azteca and Estadio Guadalajara into the loudest, most colorful arenas of the competition. VCG via Getty Images<\/p>\n The obsession went far beyond the stands. According to Statista, around 92% of Mexico\u2019s population followed the tournament, making them the most engaged nation in the World Cup.<\/p>\n And that passion became a commercial juggernaut.\u00a0<\/p>\n While exact figures remain undisclosed, Adidas revealed Mexico\u2019s shirt was the tournament\u2019s biggest seller<\/a>, beating traditional powerhouses including finalists Spain and Argentina.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the clearest real-time reads we\u2019ve seen on how a team\u2019s performance translates into consumer demand,\u201d said Brendan Dunne, senior director of customer community and engagement at online marketplace StockX.<\/p>\n Winner: Erling Haaland<\/p>\n Erling Haaland arrived in America as a soccer wrecking ball \u2014 a 6-foot-five goal machine built to leave defenders in pieces.<\/p>\n He left as something even bigger: a superstar fans felt they actually knew.<\/p>\n Erling Haaland amused American audiences with his wacky ways. FIFA via Getty Images<\/p>\n 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<\/a> better than his shopping trips.<\/p>\n In Dallas, ahead of Norway\u2019s game against Ivory Coast, Haaland walked into Wild Bill\u2019s Western Store and embraced cowboy culture, buying a Stetson Brenham hat, Dan Post python boots and a T-shirt declaring: \u201cY\u2019all Can Kiss My Dallas<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n He also left with a $750 stuffed \u201cWhiskey Raccoon<\/a>\u201d and two taxidermy squirrels costing $450 each.<\/p>\n Asked about his growing popularity<\/a> in America, Haaland smiled: \u201cI think it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Winner: Retail brands<\/p>\n The expanded 48-team tournament delivered a global advertising bonanza, with sponsors fighting for a slice of football\u2019s biggest stage across television and social media, as well as in stadiums themselves.\u00a0(And the new hydration breaks provided even more opportunity for commercials.) <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n According to YouGov research, coffee brand Cafe Bustelo generated the highest World Cup marketing buzz among more than 2,000 tracked brands. Cafe Bustelo<\/p>\n LSEG Analytics<\/a> predicted Adidas would see a 6.8% growth in World Cup quarter revenues as a result, significantly higher than rivals Nike.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say Nike fared poorly.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n They even\u00a0sold out of USMNT shirts<\/a>\u00a0two weeks into the tournament as Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s team started the tournament impressively with wins against Paraguay and Australia. (By the time Nike had restocked, though, the USA had been eliminated.)<\/p>\n But, according to YouGov research<\/a>, 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 \u2014 all thanks to its \u201cGame Face\u201d campaign, when it turned its iconic yellow coffee cans into collectible World Cup merchandise.<\/p>\n Loser: Cristiano Ronaldo<\/p>\n 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\u2019s greatest perfectionist cannot outrun Father Time forever.<\/p>\n Having won everything in the game except the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo wanted one final moment of immortality. It didn\u2019t happen. Getty Images<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Portugal\u2019s brutal decision not to bench the legend for the greater good cost them dearly<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and will tarnish his legacy.<\/p>\n Loser: Hydration breaks<\/p>\n With temperatures as high as 91.4 degrees and humidity hitting 65% during England\u2019s clash with Norway in Miami \u2014 and every match in Dallas, Houston and Miami played in conditions above 94 degrees \u2014 FIFA decided players needed protection.<\/p>\n FIFA\u2019s new hydration breaks annoyed some fans by turning soccer into a four-quarter sport. Getty Images<\/p>\n The solution: mandatory three-minute hydration breaks<\/a> midway through each half, giving players a chance to cool down and receive tactical instructions from their coaches.<\/p>\n But what was designed as a safety measure quickly became a flashpoint<\/a>.<\/p>\n To critics, the breaks effectively turned soccer into a four-quarter sport, shattering the game\u2019s natural rhythm, killing momentum and adding to the stop-start frustration already created by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR)<\/a> checking decisions made by the on-field referee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Loser: Christian Pulisic<\/p>\n This was supposed to be Pennsylvania-bred Christian Pulisic\u2019s coronation.\u00a0Instead, it became his disappearing act<\/a>.<\/p>\n The World Cup was supposed to be the coronation of USMNT\u2019s Christian Pusilic.\u00a0Instead, Captain America limped to the finish line. Getty Images<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n But Pulisic failed to score a single goal all tournament, before limping off with a lower-leg injury<\/a> during the USMNT\u2019s 4-1 last-16 demolition by Belgium<\/a>.<\/p>\n Captain America turned into Captain Invisible.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t