We are being guided to watch this World Cup as one dominated by the star players alone. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPA View image in fullscreen We are being guided to watch this World Cup as one dominated by the star players alone. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPA World Cup 2026 World Cup becomes cult of the individual but ignores team complexity Jonathan Liew The irony of the superstar-heavy narrative is the way it embellishes rather than diminishes importance of the collective
“C ristiano Ronaldo’s record-equalling sixth World Cup got off to a disappointing start,” began the Reuters match report of Portugal’s 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of the Congo last week. And yes, OK: everyone knows how this game works and why everyone plays it. On one hand, perhaps the greatest sporting day in the history of the world’s 15th most populous country. On the other, 41-year-old man does not score. It’s no contest, really. Get those sweet keywords front and left. Harvest that delicious search traffic. Perhaps you even noticed how I just did exactly the same thing.
Read more And yet something does feel qualitatively different this summer: a tectonic shift driven partly by events on the pitch and partly at the behest of the industry itself. This is a World Cup swimming in star names, and never have those star names been so unapologetically, unquestioningly invoked. France do not beat Iraq ; instead Kylian Mbappé throws down the gauntlet to Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and the rest. According to Google, Miroslav Klose’s goals record has been searched more at this tournament than in the year he set it. At times the group phase has felt like an inconvenient distraction from the real business of the Golden Boot race. ( Can Lionel Messi lift the one trophy he hasn’t won yet? )
It was once the case that individual achievement facilitated team glory. Now the reverse appears to be true. Messi doesn’t win the World Cup for Argentina; they win it for him . A Portugal triumph would be an extraordinary achievement for a country of 10 million people: the ultimate vindication of a footballing culture, a talent-scouting and youth-development system, a coaching tradition stretching back to the tactical periodisation movement pioneered four decades ago. All of which would ultimately be subsumed by the (admittedly impressive) achievement of how a ludicrously successful and lavishly adored man became even more successful and adored.
View image in fullscreen Cape Verde’s Vozinha (centre) became an instant hero after helping keep Spain at bay in their first group match. Photograph: Patrick Smith/Fifa/Getty Images But of course, the veneration of the individual goes well beyond the headline players. Unsung heroes such as Vozinha and Eloy Room have been anointed as the sole architects of their team’s achievements. David Beckham has been more visible at this tournament than some of the World Cups he played in. Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Fox Sports (two World Cups, zero goals) has been the king of the vertical video snippet. Even those who don’t want to be singled out end up singled out: witness Marcelo Bielsa’s viral official portrait, in which he stares solemnly downwards like a folk singer about to drop an album of painfully confessional acoustic ballads.
None of this is accidental. Nor, as you might suspect, is it entirely driven by the rise of algorithm-generated media, or “giving the kids what they want”. The peculiar dynamics of modern international football, wi...