USA
FIFA #14
The global sports superpower that still treats football like a side project. Getting better every cycle whether it wants to or not. Playing at home in 2026, which changes the math considerably.
๐ In the US
The hosts are everywhere โ training facilities spread across the country, players based locally wherever possible. Playing on home soil means no jet lag, no unfamiliar food, and the first real test of whether a generation of American soccer kids grew up to become a team that can actually do something with a home tournament.
Style
Athletic and high-energy, pressing hard from the front and using pace on the counter to turn defense into attack in seconds.
Rivals
Mexico. Decades of CONCACAF grudge matches and one very loud border.
Home Base
American football is the other one. Soccer, as they insist on calling it, is now the most-played youth sport in the country โ shaped by a growing Latin American fanbase and the dawning realization that hosting two World Cups in thirty years might require actually being good at it. Progress is being made.
Human Rights
Freedom House
Political rights and civil liberties score (higher = more free)
Reporters Without Borders
Press Freedom Index ranking (lower = more free, out of 180 countries)
UN Human Development Index
Human Development Index score (higher = more developed, 0โ1 scale)
Transparency International
Perceived public sector corruption โ higher is cleaner
ILGA World
Legal status of same-sex relationships