Members of the Sweden men's national soccer team work out at Toyota Stadium, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Frisco, Texas, ahead of the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
What happened: The World Cup starts this Thursday, with the USA’s first game on Friday night. It’s the most-watched single-sport event in the world, and the changes made to this year’s tournament should only serve to increase the excitement and opportunities to watch your favorite team compete.
Why it matters: Four years ago, an estimated 5 billion people tuned in at some point, with nearly 1.5 billion watching the tournament’s final game. As such, even if you’re not a fan of soccer, it’s going to be difficult to escape it for the next five weeks.
The backstory: How to get ready for the world’s most popular event
The men’s World Cup is, by most measures, “the most prestigious, most lucrative, most-viewed single-sport tournament in the history of mankind.” If that sounds like hyperbole, consider that an estimated five billion people watched four years ago, including 1.42 billion who tuned in for the 2022 finale. By comparison, the Super Bowl is seen by 125.6 million people.
If you’re looking for a bit of a primer before the games start, these articles from ESPN and CNN offer a helpful place to start.
That said, if you’re not currently planning to be among this year’s tally, I get it. I’m not really a soccer fan (though I married into a soccer family, so it’s growing on me), and I’ll probably watch more of the sport over the tournament’s five-week run time than I will over the ensuing four years combined. And this year’s tournament is set to be the biggest yet.
FIFA, which runs the World Cup, expanded the field from 32 teams to 48 this year, adding an extra round to the knockout phase after group play. As a result, even if your favorite team is not likely to win the championship, the odds of making it to the win-or-go-home section of the Cup have increased dramatically. Considering that the US team is currently sitting at 60–1 to walk away with the trophy, I’m excited for another chance or two to possibly watch them play before picking a different team to follow in the final rounds.
Speaking of the US team, their first game is against Paraguay on Friday. And since the tournament is being hosted in North America—78 of the 104 matches being played in the United States, with the remainder in Canada and Mexico—you won’t have to wake up early or stay up especially late to follow the action.
And, given where most of the headlines have focused during the buildup to the World Cup, the actual games can’t start soon enough.
Why the World Cup has been so controversial
To this point, the vast majority of conversations around the World Cup have focused more on ticket prices, global politics, water bottles, and travel restrictions than on the actual soccer. Of all the controversies, though, the anger over ticket prices has probably been the most prominent. Henry Bushnell has a good rundown of the details behind why tickets are so expensive and hard to find, but it ultimately boils down to how FIFA marketed and delivered them.
To start, the process by which FIFA made the tickets available was difficult to understand and borderline illegal. They’ve already been sued by California, with New York and New Jersey investigating their conduct as well, and much of the anger goes back to the way FIFA created a system in which people bought digital tokens for hundreds of dollars each that then gave them the right to buy one or two tickets for an unknown date and at an unknown price.
If that sounds like a scam, well, you’re not entirely wrong.
When tickets were finally made available, they were more expensive than ever before, with FIFA’s new “variable pricing” system changing rates in response to demand, resulting in a cost per ticket that had more than doubled from 2022.
FIFA then proceeded to create its own resale market for the tickets it had already sold, charging both the buyer and the seller an additional 15 percent to move the tickets. And that resale market has really taken off in recent months, considering that they didn’t actually assign seats to the tickets until April. At that point, it was revealed that the best seats had actually been reserved for hospitality packages, even though they appeared as an option at the time of purchase.
Controversy always seems to surround the World Cup, though, and this year’s versions are still less damning than in the recent past.
Spiritual application: Understanding the scope of your sin
In 2022, the tournament was marred by reports of more than 6,500 migrant workers who died building Qatar’s World Cup infrastructure. In 2018, Russia mandated that police only report solved crimes and positive news while withholding stories of terrorism, robberies, and murders during the tournament. And in 2014, violent protests broke out in Brazil as its citizens—for whom soccer is a borderline religious experience—denounced their government spending billions on the World Cup while poverty and homelessness went relatively unaddressed.
All of those stories were largely forgotten once the games began, though, and the same is likely to be true for this year. Unless you were one of those who were hurt.
If you had a family member who died while building stadiums in Qatar, were a victim ignored in Russia, felt trapped in Brazilian poverty, or even just set your hopes on checking a World Cup game off your bucket list, the pain and anger are likely to be far more difficult to move beyond.
That’s how sin works, though. It’s often easier for those who see others hurt—or even those who commit the sin themselves—to move on than it is for those who were wronged by it. That’s why Jesus was so emphatic on making the pursuit of reconciliation an essential component of repentance, going so far as to tell people to prioritize seeking the forgiveness of someone you’ve wronged over offering your sacrifices to God (Matthew 5:23–24).
It’s also important to remember, though, that he finishes that command by saying to then return and complete your offering to the Lord. After all, every sin we commit (even when we appear to be its only victim) is against God as well.
Why “cheap grace” is never enough
In The Cost of Discipleship, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke to our tendency to move beyond the price of our sin in order to reach for the blessing of forgiveness as quickly as possible. He called it “cheap grace,” and described it as:
The preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.
I doubt many of us would claim to believe that such grace is the standard we should accept or the proper way to relate to our heavenly Father. However, if your view of the price of sin does not account for the grief it brings to our Lord (Ephesians 4:30), then it’s difficult to fully appreciate the grace he has first offered to us. And if we can’t fully appreciate God’s grace, then it will be difficult to fully love him as well.
You see, the Lord asks that we make our lives a living sacrifice in response to all he has done for us, freely submitting every facet of who we are to him (Romans 12:1, Matthew 16:24). That’s a high price to pay, and it’s one that we will constantly try to cheat unless we approach that altar with an awareness of the fact that all we have to give cannot even begin to compare with all that he has already given us.
Cheap grace is insufficient not only because it fails to appreciate Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, but also because it renders us all but incapable of offering our sacrifice to God in return.
Let’s be sure not to make that mistake today.
News worth knowing
1. President Trump promises the US will respond to Iran’s latest attack
An Apache helicopter was shot down in the Strait of Hormuz—both pilots were rescued and are in good condition—on Monday evening. Earlier today, President Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran was responsible, stating, “the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.” The helicopters have played a key role in the military’s patrols over the Strait, which requires them to fly low enough to be at risk from Iranian drones.
Why it matters
As of this writing, it’s unclear what that attack might look like. The president has said that a return to full-scale war would be the consequence if a member of the American military were killed, but that line has fortunately not been crossed since the ceasefire began. Still, it’s the closest the military has come—or at least that has become public—in recent months and serves as a valuable reminder of how close we are at any given moment to the conflict escalating once again.
What to watch
Will the response that President Trump promised be commensurate with the damage done by the Iranians, or will it be the start of a new phase in the conflict? Will Iran respond in kind or seek not to rock the boat any further?
The Wall Street Journal has more on the story
2. NASA names the crew for next year’s Artemis III launch
Earlier today, NASA announced the primary and backup crews for next year’s Artemis III mission. The crew will undertake a series of maneuvers in low Earth orbit to test their shuttle’s ability to dock with the newly developed human landing systems from Blue Origin and SpaceX. The astronauts will be in space for about two weeks while completing the mission.
Why it matters
The Artemis III launch is a step toward readiness for 2028’s Artemis IV mission, in which astronauts will attempt to make the first crewed trip to the lunar South Pole. If that goes well, it will be a pivotal step toward a mission to Mars in the coming years.
What to watch
Much of the technology to be tested in next year’s launch is still being developed, and there’s a lot that could go wrong between then and now. Would potential setbacks simply delay the mission, or could something happen to undercut it entirely? Conversely, if there are no setbacks and everything goes according to plan, what could that mean for a realistic timeline on visiting Mars or working toward a more permanent presence on the moon?
3. Southern Baptist Convention to vote on the Mohler amendment
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is set to vote today on whether to allow a constitutional amendment from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler to skip the traditional one-year wait and be voted upon at this year’s meeting in Orlando. The amendment is intended to address whether women should be allowed to serve as pastors, elders, or overseers in SBC-affiliated congregations. The issue has been an annual debate in recent years, and Mohler has stated that part of his reasoning for proposing the amendment is to give clear guidance and a firm stance on the issue so that it does not have to be addressed again.
Why it matters
The issue of the proper interpretation of what roles the Bible allows women to fill in ministry is among the most divisive issues among Baptists today. Mohler pointed to the denomination’s decision in the 1990s to exclude LGBTQ+ affirming churches from the SBC as precedent for excluding churches that affirm a more egalitarian approach to women in the ministry, though there is nothing approaching the same level of agreement on the current issue as there was in the 90’s.
What to watch
Historically, preserving the individual church’s right to decide on issues without a clear biblical mandate has been a key pillar of what it means to be Baptist. There is no consensus among Baptists on whether the Bible offers such a mandate for the role of women in the ministry, as Bible-believing and faithful teachers of Scripture argue for both sides of the debate. If the amendment passes, how many churches will choose to leave the SBC, and what impact would their departure have on the denomination’s other missions and ministry efforts?
USA Today has more on the story
And for more on this topic, I recommend reading Dr. Jim Denison’s “Should women be pastors? Or church leaders, deacons, or teachers?” and Jonathan Becker’s “How to disagree better on the role of women in ministry.”
God is good
As I mentioned in the main Focus for today, I’m likely to need a new team to follow by the time the final rounds of the World Cup start. If the same is true for you, I’d like to recommend a recent article profiling the faith of 14 World Cup stars as a great place to start your search. Belgium, Brazil, and England are the nations most often represented, but each of the players listed will be fun to follow throughout the tournament. The stories about Belgium’s Jérémy Doku, Brazil’s Álisson Becker, and England’s Bukayo Saka were particularly encouraging.
Kingdom impact
Soccer is far and away the most popular sport in the world, and its best players often rise to mythic status at the peak of their careers. When those players use that platform to point others to Christ, they can serve as a powerful reminder to each of us to look for the ways God has given us influence over others and our calling to steward that influence well.
Prayer point
Will you pray that the Christian athletes and coaches participating in this year’s World Cup use their platform to publicly and powerfully honor God? Will you pray that those who may be on the fence about Jesus, or even have never given him a second thought, would be open to the gospel? And will you pray that God will strengthen and protect these athletes in the midst of the temptations and struggles they’ll inevitably face over the coming weeks?
Christianity Today has more on the story
Search