A World Cup year always brings a different kind of excitement for football fans. Even before a ball has been kicked, the excitement starts building in homes across the country. Conversations turn to squad predictions, fixture dates are added to calendars, and suddenly everyone is wondering if this could finally be England’s year.
As a football-loving family, we already know the 2026 World Cup is going to become a huge part of our summer memories especially for our youngest son Freddie.
Supporting your club week in, week out is one thing. For us, that means following both West Brom and Walsall through all the highs, frustrations, celebrations and “maybe next season” moments that football fans know all too well. Club football becomes part of family life, doesn’t it? Saturday routines, checking scores on the way home, talking about matches over dinner it all becomes woven into childhood. But the World Cup feels different.
Supporting England during a World Cup creates an atmosphere unlike anything else. Club rivalries fade into the background for a few weeks as everyone gets behind the same team, sharing every bit of anticipation, tension and excitement together. St George’s flags start appearing outside homes, England shirts become the everyday uniform and each match quickly turns into a huge occasion. For children, especially, those tournament summers become unforgettable.
Wall Charts, Sticker Books and Match days
World Cup wall charts still feel like such a big part of the experience for me. Even with instant updates on our phones and football apps everywhere, nothing beats sitting down to fill in scores, follow the group stages and predict the knockout fixtures by hand. I can already imagine ours being covered in notes, guesses, scribbles and crossed-out predictions before the tournament even reaches the final.
Then there are the sticker books. Honestly, are you even properly preparing for a World Cup without one? The excitement of opening fresh packets, hoping for a shiny badge or finally finding the player you’ve been missing for weeks, never really goes away. Watching our son experience that same excitement feels incredibly special. It’s football, but it’s also childhood memories being made in real time.
I can already picture the collection of little keepsakes that will build up over the tournament too England posters adorning their bedroom walls, match schedules pinned to the fridge, favourite players written on notebooks and endless conversations about who should start up front. These tournaments become markers in time.
The Magic of World Cup Summers
Years from now, I know we’ll look back on the summer of the 2026 World Cup and remember exactly where we watched certain matches, who celebrated the loudest when England scored and the heartbreak or joy that football inevitably delivers. More importantly, our boys will remember it too. That’s what makes it all feel so exciting already.
It’s not just about football. It’s about family traditions, shared moments and the simple joy of believing together for a few weeks that anything might be possible. And who knows? Maybe by 2026, England really will bring it home.
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