The World Cup this year by FIFA has fans from all over the world going wild and cheering for the players and the game. The tournament began this year of 2022 on Sunday, November 21st and ends on December 18 – repeating the cycle of its appearance every 4 years.

The World Cup in football (soccer), is one of the world’s most widely viewed sporting events that takes place every four years to determine the men’s sport’s world champion. It is most likely the most popular sporting event in the world, drawing billions of television viewers every tournament.

Fans travel from all over the world to follow their favorite teams as they compete against some of the most talented players in soccer. “I am really excited to watch the World Cup this year, mostly because it is going to be my favorite players last year playing.” 10th grader Saron Tilahun said. “I love the energy the World Cup radiates, as well as the fans’ dedication to wanting their country to win, and how it really grabs your attention.” “I also love the feeling of when the tension grows stronger as you’re watching on screen and waiting for the team you’re rooting for to score a goal.” 

The new players this year are also getting a lot of attention, as most are already extremely popular. Our well known and beloved players obviously are Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar Jr. who are the reasons most fans watch. “When you picture the World Cup, you picture these 3. I’m sad it is their last year playing, but I know they’re going to leave a legacy and we will be starting a new generation of talented players.” Saron also said.

The new, young players this year are including Jude Bellingham, Joao Felix, Mbappe, Richarlson, and more who are becoming very popular very fast – turning into fans favorites.

These players are the reason people from all over the world are turning on the World Cup and watching it on their TV, laptop, cellphone, etc. It is very influential, having even teachers and students turn it on live during school hours. “During class, when the teacher would put on the World Cup, and a player was about to score a goal, everybody would like cheer and get really loud in the classroom.” 11th grader Ashley Diana said.

The World Cup is made up of teams from six different continental zones – Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, Caribbean, Oceania, and South America. Picking out only the best of the best to participate in the World Cup.

People may even say watching the World Cup, they expected just football, but the World Cup educated them in ways they didn’t even expect. “I was really looking forward to the World Cup this year, as it only comes every 4 years.” Ashley said. “I was honestly only rooting for the team Brazil because of  Neymar Jr.” – but, after watching multiple games of countries from all over the world like Saudi Arabia, Croatia, France, Morocco, South Korea, it really fascinated me in realizing how many talented players there are.” 

Another World Cup fan, “When I turned on the World Cup, and the screen started showing all these groups of people from different countries around the world, I was stunned for a second because I didn’t even know half of these countries existed.” 11th grader Dana Isidro said.

 “It was my first time in a while looking at an actual geographic map and actually caring.” She also said, “When you’re watching the games, you get to learn more rules about the sport as well. Like I did not know anything about penalties, flags, yellow and red cards, how much time you get to play, and stuff like that until I watched the World Cup.”

People all over the world this year are learning more and more about the World Cup, and not intentionally either. It could be about the countries, the players, the sport in general – the World Cup does not only provide one of the best sporting tournaments in the world for you to watch, but can also unintentionally provide and educate you with information you didn’t even know before. The World Cup is not only about finding out who’s the best football player, but also about the team chemistry, team work, and showing the love players have for the sport, sportsmanship, and more. It is a great source of entertainment, as well as a great source of information.