The 2026 Fifa World Cup kicks off today and, as you already know, Ireland won’t be playing in it. It still merits attention from Irish eyes, though not really for what happens on the pitches across Canada, Mexico and the US.
This is the sporting equivalent of an airport at Christmas, or really of lots of airports at Christmas. There will be crowds and many of those in them will be quite stressed. The logistics are not for the faint-hearted, while the security issues, even without Donald Trump doing Donald Trump things, will only compound the challenge.
Fifa, of course, is running everything digitally. That’s a wise move on the face of things, but only if the infrastructure behind it is able to manage the task.
There will be pressure on networks, both wifi and cellular. Users would normally be advised to have downloaded tickets to their device to be safe but that may not be an option given how Fifa says its app will work. Game tickets will only appear in the Fifa app as a QR code a few hours before the game in question.
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We won’t know how it works until users report back later today. It may not be possible to store tickets in a Google or Apple wallet. If they can’t be stored like that, everyone who gets to a gate without a signal is going to cause a delay.
Throw in language barriers and the issues with Fifa’s infrastructure (we’ll get to that) and it’s a nightmare waiting to happen.
That’s the way to look at this World Cup. The 104 matches across 16 cities, featuring 48 teams, are going to test consumer-facing digital infrastructure like few events ever have. It is almost inevitable that VAR won’t be the biggest source of tech controversy at this event.
Much of that comes down to how we as a society view digital tools. They are a source of convenience. Before smartphone payments became the norm, the limit for payment by tapping your card was €15. This was upped to €30, in no small part due to research that people wanted to be able to reliably cover a round of four drinks with a tap.
That limit on a physical tap is now €50 but, with phone use, the convenience factor has obviously moved things much further forward. Payment via a phone tap, however, moved the technology from a nice convenience to a key piece of infrastructure.
Very little changed for the end user ... unless something went wrong. That’s the risk for those attending matches at World Cup 2026 with tickets being delivered solely via mobile phones. Unlike with your bank card, there’s no backup plan in your wallet.
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That lack of a physical backup plan is one most of us have grown used to. It’s usually not so bad at, say, the Aviva Stadium or Croke Park, but this is a different scale of a challenge.
With the tournament taking place across so many places and multiple jurisdictions, the potential for edge cases is enormous. Think of the challenge for phone networks, roaming and different rules for each country.
The overwhelming majority of people visiting from outside the host nations will have little familiarity with the logistical norms. By centring everything on the app, Fifa has focused on convenience for the end user as a means of control.
That changes the product from a ticket or an app to an issue of trust. Given the app is already getting swarmed with bad reviews, with users citing issues before a ball has even been kicked, that’s a hard sell.
Barely a week before the tournament was due to start, Fifa cancelled tickets for a few dozen fans who got them for free because of an error in the checkout software. While the 60 or so people impacted were allowed to repurchase at the correct price, this has the feeling of a canary in the coal mine.
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Access to tickets speaks to a wider connectivity challenge. Verizon has said it will boost capacity at stadiums but until it gets truly tested, we won’t know just how well it will work. Tens of thousands of people are going to be online in close proximity to each other, often as a matter of necessity due to the app-led approach of Fifa.
The deliberately late delivery of tickets will only increase the pressure on networks. Much like with physical plumbing, if the digital equivalent isn’t reinforced adequately, it’s going to be an ugly mess for all concerned.
Maybe it will all go well. It’s unlikely, but it might. Still, the how and when of failings at this tournament could prove really insightful for Ireland.
With the Ryder Cup in Adare Manor next year and Euro 2028 a year later, understanding the why behind digital failures at the 2026 World Cup could help plan to avoid similar issues at those two big events coming to these shores.
