Three Kickoffs at Four in the Morning
Quick vibe check: the ball rolls at the World Cup in a few days. Be honest — does this feel like a World Cup to you?
Not really, does it.
At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, flags hung from every other balcony. 2018 in Russia was politically loaded, but you could feel it. Even Qatar 2022 — the one nobody wanted to enjoy and everyone ended up glued to anyway — had more buildup than whatever we’re living through right now.
What’s different this time
48 teams instead of 32. Three hosts instead of one. 104 matches spread between Boston, Mexico City and Vancouver. The maths of the World Cup has exploded — and the mood with it.
The core problems stack up roughly like this:
- Three hosts who can’t currently stand each other. The US, Canada and Mexico are meant to spend four weeks acting like one shared organiser. Current state of diplomacy: tense. Very.
- Kickoff times built for a US audience. Which means, for us: some round-of-16 games start at 10 p.m., others at 2 or 4 in the morning. The final on 19 July? Kickoff at 9 p.m. Central European Time. Just about doable, if you don’t have to be at work.
- FIFA in peak form. Ticket prices beyond all reason, dynamic pricing like a hard-rock concert, new group formats nobody understands after three matchdays. The usual FIFA circus, just louder.
- Politics everywhere. The host US president treats the tournament as a personal showcase, which leads to press conferences that have roughly nothing to do with football. Great theatre. Little football.
A World Cup nobody’s really looking forward to has never happened before. Doesn’t mean there won’t be one.
We’ll all watch anyway
Here’s the honest answer: yes, it’ll still be a World Cup. Yes, we’ll still drag ourselves out of bed in the middle of the night to watch a Brazil–Argentina round-of-16 tie. Yes, the pub will be busier than usual.
Sporting mega-events have this strange habit of working out in the end — even when the event itself is a mess. Brazil 2014 gave us the 7–1 against the hosts that we still quote today. Qatar 2022 delivered what was probably the best final of all time. Whatever the organisers can’t pull off, the players make up for.
This time is no different. The question isn’t whether the World Cup will be good. The question is how we make those five weeks bearable.
What helps: predicting with friends
This is going to sound smug, but: a running prediction game wakes up a tired World Cup.
When someone kicks off at 2 a.m. in Detroit, the gap between “interesting” and “worthless” comes down to one simple question: have you got 50 coins riding on it, or not? You have? You’ll watch the full 90, whoever’s playing. You haven’t? You’re in bed by 2:15.
Bettle One — the free, public World Cup prediction game on Bettles — does exactly that. 1,000 spots, all 104 matches, everyone with their own strategy. Real prizes behind it, so first place wins more than bragging rights.
It won’t turn the bad World Cup into a good one. But it’ll turn it into one you don’t sleep through.
Bettle One launches with the 2026 World Cup. Register here →