World Cup fever is descending, and this tournament is the biggest ever. Forty-eight teams, 104 matches, and three host nations sharing the load across the US, Canada, and Mexico. It runs for the best part of six weeks, from June 11 to the final on July 19.
The good news: your iPhone can handle pretty much all of it. Here’s how to watch, keep track, and – if you’re one of the lucky ones with a ticket – survive the trip.
How to watch
In the US, English-language coverage runs through FOX One, with Tubi carrying free replays if you miss a game live. If you’re watching from the UK like me, every match is free to air, split between BBC iPlayer and ITVX. The catch for British fans is the time difference, with plenty of games kicking off at stupid o’clock.
Stats and schedules
FotMob is my favorite place to find live scores, fixtures, tables, lineups, and stats in a single place. Set up goal alerts for your team and it’ll ping you the moment anything happens, even when you can’t watch.
For the World Cup it’s gone all in: a full bracket, a predictor game, a Lineup Builder for picking your nation’s dream XI, and Live Activities that follow the match from your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island in your team’s colours. There are home screen widgets for the group stage and knockouts too.
FotMob is free with fairly unobtrusive ads, or $16/year with none at all. Honourable mentions for alternatives OneFootball (free or $1/month) and BBC Sport (free) – try the free versions first and see which style of reporting you prefer.
Something to read
The Athletic writes the best long-form football journalism going in my opinion, with detailed guides for every nation if you fancy a shortcut to sounding clever. It’s paywalled, but a cheap introductory offer will see you through the tournament.
Play along
For bragging rights, the official World Cup Fantasy game is free to play through the FIFA app – pick a squad of your favorite players and win points based on their real-life performances. It’s a great way to get to know the players in more detail, and with so many more teams this year there will be some very one-sided matchups to capitalize on for big points.
For traveling fans
If you’re making the trip to North America from elsewhere, Morpho is worth a download. The conversions app just released a World Cup update is built for traveling fans: pick the host cities you’re visiting and it sets itself up automatically, pinning the right currencies, weather locations, and conversions. New users also get a free preview of Morpho Pro through the end of July, no sign-up needed.
Commentary upgrade
If you’re watching TV coverage but want your own radio commentary, Soccer RadioTv Sync fixes the classic problem where the audio runs ahead of the picture. Add a radio stream, nudge the delay until audio and video line up, and you’re set.
That’s your kit sorted. The only thing left to do is rig the office sweepstake.