During the FIFA World Cup: how kids and teens across the host nations lived the tournament

Before the FIFA World Cup kicked off, the three host nations shared just one similarity: around one in five kids in Canada, Mexico and the United States were interested in the tournament. Our first article in our World Cup series set that baseline, but the similarity ended there. Behind it sat three very different football cultures, and a once-in-a-generation home tournament was about to test how deep each country's fandom really ran.

Mexico is the region's football-first nation, where the sport was already woven into daily life and the World Cup was surfacing in playground conversations months before kick-off. Canada's bond with the game ran through participation, with more kids playing football than following it. The United States entered with the most complex profile of the three, soccer still competing with the NFL, NBA and MLB for kids' attention.

A month on, we begin to measure the impact of the world's biggest football tournament on kids across the host nations: on their awareness and engagement, the players entering their conversations, how their interest showed up and how that translated to what they wanted to own. For a generation raised in an online world of gaming, streaming and creators, interest is easy to declare and far harder to hold. Canada, Mexico and the United States have all now exited the tournament at the Round of 16, and what legacy the tournament leaves behind is the question our third and final article will explore. Here, we look at what the data tells us about how North America's kids lived the tournament as it happened.

Tournament impact: inside the numbers

Throughout this article, we compare our April 2026 baseline with the tournament period of 11 June to 7 July 2026, until the last of the host nations exited. Awareness measures kids who recognise the FIFA World Cup; interest combines those describing themselves as extremely or somewhat interested.

1. Awareness is growing, but engagement remains uneven

The movement in FIFA World Cup awareness and interest tells three distinct stories.

Canada's awareness jump of 45% is the most dramatic, particularly striking given that football entered this tournament as a secondary sport for most kids in the country. Combined interest has grown by 58%. The proportion of kids describing themselves as extremely interested rose by nearly 44%, from 10% to 15%.

Mexico has deepened what was already North America's most saturated football market. Combined interest now stands at 32%, and the proportion describing themselves as extremely interested has nearly doubled, rising from 8% to 16%. When almost one in six kids says they are extremely interested in a tournament, that is a commercially serious audience.

The United States is the outlier. Awareness moved only modestly, up 5%, and combined interest declined slightly. This is the pattern you would expect of a fragmented sports market where the tournament is registering but not yet overriding competing priorities.

2. The World Cup in peer conversations

Peer conversation data is probably the most powerful indicator of genuine traction. When kids start organically mentioning something – a tournament, a brand or a player – in conversations with their friends, that topic has moved beyond awareness into genuine embedding.

Compared to April baseline figures of 2%, 3% and 0.4% respectively, the growth rates are substantial across the three host nations. In Mexico, World Cup conversation mentions have increased more than fivefold. In Canada, they have risen roughly threefold. In the US, they have risen more than sevenfold, although absolute levels remain the smallest of the three.

What makes Mexico's figure (15%) especially significant is not just its size, but the vocabulary behind it. Kids in the country use ‘World Cup’, ‘FIFA World Cup’, ‘football’, ‘FIFA’, and ‘Soccer World Cup’ interchangeably in their responses, reflecting how deeply embedded the tournament is in their dialogue. In Canada and the US, conversation is dominated by the event label alone, which is the language of awareness rather than of deeper cultural ownership.

3. Enjoyment and deeper engagement: football's footprint

Beyond the tournament itself, we monitor whether football's broader footprint, composed of enjoyment, watching, playing and following, is changing. Here, the countries diverge sharply.

Mexico is the most striking here. Football enjoyment among kids has risen 15% during the tournament period, with screen-based engagement also growing. This suggests the tournament is broadening relevance among youth in the country.

Canada's close-following figure doubling is the number to watch. That is a move from inert awareness to active fandom behaviours, and it happened across the first weeks of a tournament in which Canada won their group and secured their first ever World Cup knockout victory.

The US dip in soccer enjoyment and screen-watching against the tournament backdrop is counterintuitive but consistent with our earlier analysis. The start of the World Cup period coincided with NBA and NHL finals coverage and a full MLB season, and for many American kids it is an event they know is happening rather than a sport they are choosing.

4. Merchandise demand: awareness is running ahead of the cash registers

One of the most commercially important questions for rights holders and brand partners is whether rising interest converts into demand for related consumer products. Our survey records whether kids and teens want or already own clothing, accessories, in-game merchandise and other items related to sports teams. The simple answer is that it depends very much on the country.

In Canada, apparel intent is holding steady while digital merchandise and live events both climb. The live events and attractions figure rising nearly 18% likely reflects the tournament being played on Canadian soil, with kids either attending or wanting to attend events.

Mexico shows a stable apparel picture with modest gains in in-game categories, consistent with a market where fandom is deepening.

The United States shows the widest gap between awareness and behaviour: across most product categories, intent has softened compared with April. For kids and teens in the US, the World Cup is not yet converting elevated sports awareness into product desire. That gap is precisely where the activation opportunity sits.

5. How kids are consuming fandom: the platform shifts

We also track the channels and platforms through which kids connect with their favourite sports and teams. The numbers reveal meaningful differences in how fandom is being expressed across territories during the tournament period.

Canada appears to be online-first in its sports fandom. YouTube viewing of sports-team content is rising while broadcast TV declines. For brands and content partners in Canada, YouTube-first strategies, social following mechanics, and creator and influencer content are where this newly engaged audience already lives.

Mexico stands out as the only country where broadcast TV consumption of sports-team content has risen during the tournament period. This reflects football's status as a television event in the country. Matches are watched live, on screen, often together as a family. The slight dip in YouTube is less a concern than a context: when matches are on, the screen is the television.

In the United States, engagement softened across broadcast TV, YouTube and social media alike, even as awareness rose. This is consistent with the earlier finding that the World Cup has not yet captured US kids' attention at the content-consumption level, even as awareness rises. The real finding is distribution is not the US problem; motivation is.

6. The players: who is entering kids' personal canon?

One of the clearest signs of whether the tournament is cutting through with kids and teens is whether the players themselves become more prominent when we ask about favourite famous person. This is an open-ended question, so appearing in the rankings means earning attention in genuine competition with film stars, entertainers and musicians, as well as athletes from other sports. Notably, no footballer from the three host nations appears at meaningful scale in any market: the fame the tournament is generating among North American kids is flowing to the game's global stars.

Mexico is where the movement is. Ronaldo is now named by around 5% of kids among their favourite famous people, and Messi's mentions have more than doubled from 2% to 4%. Kids in the country are watching the global superstars as closely as their own players.

Elsewhere the numbers are smaller and quieter. In Canada, Ronaldo edged up (1.5% to 1.7%) while Messi slipped (1.3% to 0.8%); in the US both declined, Ronaldo from 1.9% to 1.0% and Messi from 1.3% to 0.6%, most likely reflecting competition from other celebrities during a crowded entertainment period rather than any fall in soccer player fame. Neymar Jr. appeared as a new entry in both Canada and the US, a small but telling spillover of tournament visibility onto the game's leading talents.

The age picture: who is driving the momentum?

Across all three markets, the World Cup's impact on kids is not uniform by age. Understanding which cohorts are accelerating is crucial for any commercial or content strategy looking to engage kids.

Canada is being energised from both ends of the age spectrum: 6-9 year olds driving the strongest awareness and merchandise lift, while 16-18 year olds break out most strongly on interest.

Mexico is being pushed forward most strongly by preteens on awareness and interest, with teens leading on merchandise demand.

The United States shows ages 6-9 as the only cohort moving up across both awareness and interest, while ages 16-18 lead on awareness and merchandise.

After the final whistle

As the host nations' exits are picked over and the spectacle winds towards its final in New Jersey, the real test begins. A home crowd and a winning team are the easiest reasons in the world for a kid to tune in, and for a few weeks all three nations had exactly that. What happens now, once the occasion stops doing the work, will be the honest measure of whether the tournament changed anything for Gen Alpha at all.

When the United States last hosted, in 1994, the tournament paved the way for Major League Soccer. This time, what will the legacy be? Will the interest in football that climbed over the past month hold once the tournament is gone? Will more kids play the game, not just watch it? Will they adopt a team, a player, a habit that outlasts the summer? The answers separate a month-long event from a genuine turning point for the sport.

We survey kids' attitudes, behaviours and actions every day, through the final and long after it. The last piece in our three-part World Cup series will follow these kids well beyond the final whistle, to see what stayed with them once the tournament was over. That is where a legacy is really written, and it is the story we will tell next.

The Insights Family tracks kids and teens aged 3 to 18 across 22 markets, every day. Want to know how Gen Alpha thinks, what they care about and how to reach them?Chat to us.

Figures rounded to the nearest whole number; percentage changes calculated from unrounded values. Baseline: April 2026. Tournament window: 11 June to 7 July 2026, to the last host nation's exit. Base sizes: Canada 861, Mexico 683, US 801.