EA Sports already has a champion defined for the 2026 World Cup. According to a complete simulation carried out in EA Sports FC 26, Spain will lift the cup for the second time in history.
The prediction was generated from the game engine and updated databases, with all 104 simulated matches — from the group stage to the final. The 48-team tournament begins in June in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Although many projections are seen as a mere marketing strategy, EA Sports’ track record gives weight to the result. The company guessed the winner of the last four editions of the World Cup before the ball actually rolled.
The sequence began in 2010, with Spain’s unprecedented title in South Africa. In 2014, Germany was named four-time champion in Brazil. Four years later, France won in Russia. And, in 2022, he predicted Lionel Messi’s Argentina ending their fast in Qatar.
In the simulation for 2026, left-back Marc Cucurella appears as one of the highlights of the Spanish campaign, with emotional moments that end in celebration. If La Roja does not confirm its favoritism on the pitch, the brand will end a 16-year streak of successes.
Football performance contrasts with other EA sports. In the Madden NFL franchise, the company simulated the last 15 editions of the Super Bowl and only got eight right. The highlight was Super Bowl XLIX, with a score of 28 to 24 for the New England Patriots over the Seattle Seahawks.
In hockey, the Stanley Cup simulation via the NHL records 14 consecutive years of errors. The difference is explained by the calendar: the World Cup has a fixed squad and a short duration, while the American leagues involve long seasons and many variables.
Even without an official license from FIFA, EA launched the free expansion The World’s Game for EA Sports FC 26. The update brings the International Tournament mode, which reproduces the real format of the tournament, with groups and knockouts, as well as licensed teams, official uniforms and scanned faces.