Seven matches are set to play out at the Hard Rock Stadium this summer as the FIFA World Cup, the iconic showpiece event of the planet’s most popular sport, comes to town. As hundreds of thousands of soccer fans and some of the world’s greatest athletes descend on South Florida, WLRN is going beyond the scorelines to guide you through the most interesting stories around the Copa Mundial.
You can get WLRN’s special coverage — along with the latest news and features from around the NPR network — here or in your inbox by subscribing to our free Soccer Edition weekly newsletter.
-
Dressed in bright red and metal horned hats, Norwegians sat in the middle of Ocean Drive to chant their iconic ‘ro!’ -
In 1966, all of Africa's national soccer teams boycotted the World Cup after FIFA refused to give the continent a guaranteed spot in the tournament. -
Even in this digital age, the decades-long tradition of collecting Panini stickers has managed to stick around as soccer fans gather and trade to find the missing piece in their collection. -
Some of the greatest footballers of a generation played their final World Cup match this summer. -
The chief economist of the Beer Institute has analyzed the data from the first two weeks of the World Cup and says that host cities have seen massive increases in beer sales both inside the stadiums and out. -
The U.S. striker Folarin Balogun is expected to start against Belgium in a Round of 16 match after a surprise decision by FIFA to allow him to play despite receiving a red card last week. -
While the U.S. isn't a bona fide soccer nation yet, the past three weeks have perhaps shown what it would feel like if it were. -
The Americans had been heavy favorites to top the Bosnians, but the game became a nailbiter in the second half when a red card on U.S. striker Folarin Balogun set the U.S. on their heels. -
A major heat wave is affecting much of the eastern half of the United States this week, bringing dangerous conditions to multiple World Cup matches. -
U.S. youth soccer has long been dominated by an affluent, suburban "pay-to-play" system that critics say limits player development compared to other countries — and which they hope the World Cup helps change. -
The list of World Cup controversies had many feeling pretty cynical before the tournament. But the moments of comradery and celebration among fans and teams have made the challenges easy to forget. -
A trio of craft breweries from the global soccer event's three host nations are using the tournament to brew something increasingly rare: cross-border solidarity.
