The 2026 World Cup has a problem: celebrity-spotting | OneFootball

Brad Pitt was there. Leonardo DiCaprio too. So were Paris Hilton and Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell and Colin Farrell. Not to mention Scottie Pippen, Lance Bass, Gabrielle Union and Keegan-Michael Key. Although, for those of us who are not entirely sure who they are, perhaps they should go unmentioned.

Maybe a United States game in Los Angeles was always likelier to attract the rich and famous, and they turned out, and then turned up on big screens and televisions. Because part of the problem with this World Cup has been the focus on the famous. Occasionally the football gets in the way of the celeb-spotting.

Presumably, though, any television director who concentrates on a left back instead of someone who appeared on a reality TV show you might have seen a decade ago is swiftly escorted out of the premises and told not to return.

Welcome to the real sport of the World Cup: not football, but spotting A-Listers and Z-Listers in the stands.

open image in gallery

Paris Hilton at a 2026 World Cup game in Los Angeles Stadium (Getty)

Which, it seems, both the governing body and host broadcaster think the objective is. The celeb breaks and the commercial (aka hydration) breaks are the staples of the coverage. Occasionally the football gets in the way of them, but not for too long.

There are points when it can seem harmless, moments when it may appear a way in which football has become mainstream, if Tom Cruise or Katy Perry or Jay Z are there. Yet does this really help grow the game? It feels more that priorities have been warped and distorted by this dismal focus on the famous.

There have never been more teams at the World Cup, never more footballers; some 1,248 of them. Most get less time on camera than some of the supposed luminaries in the plush seats.

Which can reflect the reality that the World Cup has different audiences: the genuine football fan and the casual observer. Yet the underlying impression given is that we are all more interested in Michael Buble than Michael Olise, Shakira than Vozinha, Paris Saint-Germain players than Paris Hilton. Forget the New Zealand footballers, let’s look at the Real Housewives of New Jersey.

The most generous interpretation is that it is a one-off; forged by hosting (most of) the tournament in the country with more celebrities than anywhere else – and some games in the home of Hollywood. It nevertheless feels indicative that, fast as football is growing in the USA, it is not as imbued in the culture as elsewhere, so they compensate with the touchstones of familiar faces.

Maybe, in an increasingly shallow world, it is what people want: why look at the complexities of a passing move or a pressing trap, when someone good-looking and well-known is in the stands? Some of it betrays a lack of understanding of the game. In a country with an individualistic culture, a team sport has been dumbed down to a select few.

open image in gallery

Comedian Keegan-Michael Key attended the match between Iran and Belgium in LA (Getty)

On television coverage in the United States, Fox Sports’s players to watch in every game always seem to be the most famous. Because fame is good. They do not choose the most important tactically, or the player who helps others play, or the one who is in form or given a new position. And if they can’t find a famous player, they pick one with a famous father.

Yes, Luca Zidane was their player to watch when Algeria met Argentina (although, as the goalkeeper was partly culpable for Lionel Messi’s first two goals, perhaps that was an accidentally pertinent pick). But the process, the principles of team-building, get overlooked. The unsung heroes remain unsung, among constant conversations about Christian Pulisic and pictures of Pitt.

It isn’t insight or analysis. It’s just big names.

It might have actually been beneficial if leading lights such as Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Vinicius Junior had scored fewer goals and some of their lower-profile teammates more. Meanwhile, there are teams shorn of superstars and players worthy of greater attention, if only there was more of a focus on them. And that is less a question of time than of choice.

In defence of some of the more prominent members of the crowd, film stars are allowed to watch football; some genuinely like it. But perhaps they would rather do so without their presence being broadcast to the wider world.

open image in gallery

Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo (Getty)

Or perhaps that is a woefully naive interpretation.

Marcelo Bielsa’s infamous Fifa picture, looking at the ground rather than the camera, could be construed as a one-man protest against the Instagram culture; though it might just have been Bielsa being Bielsa.

Although, of course, the most-followed man on Instagram is even seen on the grass, though only after Fifa managed to rescind the two-game suspension that should have ruled Cristiano Ronaldo out of the start of the tournament. The most famous man in the world, Donald Trump, is due to present the trophy at the final, perhaps watched by thousands of recognisable figures.

Because, if the stands at the MetLife Stadium will be populated only by actors, pop stars, models and assorted influencers, it might mean only celebrities can afford the extortionate ticket prices. The people’s game can look like the rich and famous people’s game.

The celebrities are more a symptom than cause, but with every needless shot of them in the crowd, both Fifa and the United States look ever more in need of a moral reset.