The World Cup has a habit of redefining football’s hierarchy. New stars emerge, established powers fall and careers are forever defined by a handful of moments.

As the tournament heads to North America for the first time since 1994, the game is at a crossroads. Argentina is attempting to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to retain the World Cup. Kylian Mbappe is looking to cement his place at the top of the game, while Spain’s young stars seek to fulfil their promise. And there remain questions over what a 48-team competition will look like in practice.

Some of those will be answered over the next 39 days as football’s biggest tournament unfolds in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Across 104 matches in 16 host cities, teams will navigate vast distances, multiple time zones and varying conditions, testing not only their quality but also endurance.

Argentina enters the showpiece with much of the squad that conquered the world in Qatar and with Lionel Messi still leading the way.

Now 38 and playing for Inter Miami, Messi knows North American conditions better than most rivals and will hope familiarity can fuel one final run at the world stage.

Argentina begins as one of the favourites, but there will be no shortage of challengers. Spain arrives as the reigning European champion, powered by the creativity of Pedri and Lamine Yamal. Under Luis de la Fuente, it has evolved beyond the possession-heavy style that defined its golden generation, combining technical excellence with greater intensity and directness.

France, world champion in 2018 and finalist in 2022, has spent much of the last decade setting the benchmark in international football.

Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Aurelien Tchouameni headline a side capable of dominating games with or without possession and adapting to the varied demands of tournament football.

England, led by Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, will again carry the weight of expectations, while Brazil seeks its first World Cup title since 2002. Germany appears rejuvenated after years of inconsistency, with Portugal hoping Cristiano Ronaldo can inspire one final memorable run.

The tournament’s biggest change is structural. Expansion to 48 teams has altered the landscape of international football.

Asia now has eight direct qualification places and Africa nine, opening the door for nations that previously stood little chance of reaching the World Cup.

Uzbekistan, Cape Verde, Curacao and Jordan will make their debuts, while several emerging football countries believe that they can do more than simply participate. Whether the expanded format strengthens the competition or merely stretches it remains to be seen.

Off the field, at a time when the world feels increasingly fenced off, the game has already encountered some of the complications that come with staging a global event. Iran will be based in Mexico and commute to its matches in the United States amid continuing tensions between Tehran and Washington and the wider regional conflict involving Israel.

There has also been controversy surrounding Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who was denied entry into the USA despite reportedly holding a valid visa and diplomatic passport. Artan, the 2025 African Referee of the Year, was set to become the first Somali official to take part at a World Cup.

But for all the attention on politics, travel and expansion, the tournament will ultimately be judged by the football it produces. In a world that often feels increasingly fractured, the World Cup remains one of the few occasions capable of making the globe move to a common rhythm.

And for over a month, football, hopefully, will once again prove to be bigger than the machinery that powers it today.