The 2026 FIFA World Cup brought fans from 48 different countries to 16 different stadiums, 11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada (Photo by Getty Images)

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Do you find yourself still checking for 2026 FIFA World Cup match results, only to find no new ones and feeling empty as a result? Then you may be going through World Cup withdrawal.

Do you hear that Hanson song MMMBop and then anxiously long to see Mbappé, as in French football star Kylian Mbappé? Then you may be going through World Cup withdrawal.

Do you feel down not seeing Norwegian fans doing the “Viking Row,” Cape Verde fans doing the Goat celebration or Brazilian fans sporting their classic "Canarinho" uniforms anymore? Then you may be going through World Cup withdrawal.

After 104 matches in 39 days, it’s only natural to feel like something’s been missing since the tournament concluded on July 19 win Spain winning the championship. You’ve probably gotten used to the scores of fans wearing their teams’ uniforms and closely following the scores of each match. The atmosphere may seem a little less colorful and little less festive. And there’s the realization that you won’t be seeing the biggest international football tournament of them all in four years, when the men’s FIFA World Cup returns in 2030 to be hosted primarily by Morocco, Portugal and Spain with three special opening matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

But before you kick yourself in the you-know-where, there are five ways to deal with and maybe even overcome your World Cup withdrawal:

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1. Watch Replays Of Matches

Through the magic of this thing called videos, you can watch any of the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches again and again and again. This can include what many consider to one of the two best matches of the World Cup: the Round of 16 clash between Mexico and England in Estadio Azteca. As I wrote in Forbes, England had to contend with the altitude of Mexico City, Mexico’s home crowd and a very good Mexico side. The game went back and forth before Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and England edged Julián Quiñones, Raúl Jiménez and Mexico 3-2.

The other very memorable match was the Third-Place Match between England and France. The final score, 6-4 for England, looked more like the first set of a tennis match than a final football tally. England’s “Three Lions” roared out to a 4-0 lead before France, sacré bleu, fought back to 4-3. The rest of the game was a roller coaster ride with France eventually falling short but not by much. Mbappé did score twice in the match to eventually earn the Golden Boot for the most goals in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Alternatively, you could re-watch what might have been the worst match of the tournament—the Final between Spain and Argentina. This one kind of—oh, what’s the technical term for it—sucked. Argentina basically had more yellow cards (three) than shots on goal (zero) by the end of regulation time. It wasn’t until extra time that Spain mercilessly scored the only goal of the game to eventually put Argentina away 1-0. The most competitive part of the match might have been the fight between the players of the two sides right after the game ended.

2. Play Soccer (Football) Video Games

Speaking of videos, there are also video games that allow you to play football—you know the thing that’s called soccer in the U.S.—in a virtual way. This way you can choose your favorite player, whether it’s Jearl Margaritha of Curaçao, Mohamed Salah of Egypt, Brahim Díaz of Morocco, Yan Diomandé of Ivory Coast, Ayase Ueda of Japan, Erling Haaland of Norway, Christian Pulisic of the U.S., some dude named Messi or whoever, and then take on whatever team you’d like to play against. You could even have your very own World Cup that plays out differently in however you’d like it to go.

3. Play Soccer (Football) For Real

Of course, you could always get your kicks playing soccer or football for real like with an actual ball and actual people. That could give you the added benefit of real physical activity, which would be good for you health-wise. You could either gather friends to play or find a local league or pick-up game. Be careful, though, and make sure that you stretch and warm-up properly first. Don’t somehow believe that you can score the kind of goal that Colombia’s Daniel Muñoz did against Uzbekistan simply because he made it look easy on TV. Last month, at the start of the World Cup, I did cover in Forbes some of the more common soccer injuries and the precautions to take.

4. Watch Different Football Clubs And Leagues Around The World

Then there’s finding more football to watch. Even though you won’t be seeing World Cup competition in four years, the sport will continue in different leagues throughout the world. Historically, the leagues with the most viewership, revenue and talent have been the following “Big Five” in Europe:

• English Premier League (EPL): With the “Big Six” of club teams that consists of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur
• Spanish La Liga: Headlined by Real Madrid and FC Barcelona that often assemble All-Star-like teams.
• Italian Serie A: With Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus being the most well-known clubs.
• German Bundesliga: Featuring clubs like FC Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, RB Leipzig, VfB Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt
• French Ligue 1: With its “Big Four” of Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique de Marseille, AS Monaco and Olympique Lyonnais.

Other parts of the world have their own football leagues as well. South America has the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in Brazil with clubs like Flamengo, Palmeiras, and São Paulo, the Argentine Primera División in Argentina with clubs like Boca Juniors and River Plate and the Categoría Primera A in Colombia with clubs like Millonarios and Atlético Nacional. Different parts of Asia, in turn, have the AsiaSaudi Pro League in Saudi Arabia with clubs like Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr, the J1 League in Japan with clubs like Vissel Kobe and Kawasaki Frontale and the K League 1 in South Korea with clubs like FC Seoul and Ulsan HD FC.

In the U.S., Major League Soccer matches have already re-started with the Nashville SC currently atop the Eastern Conference and the Vancouver Whitecaps SC currently leading the Western Conference. The 2026 MLS regular season will keep on keeping on until November 7. That will be followed by the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and finally the MLS Cup on December 18.

On the women’s side, there are plenty of sides as well. The two biggest leagues in the world are the National Women’s Soccer League in the U.S. and the Women’s Super League in England. The next set of top leagues are in Europe: Spain’s Liga F, France's Première Ligue, and Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga.

You can actually catch another World Cup next year—the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The tenth edition of this tournament will go from June 24 to July 25, 2027, in Brazil. The reign in Spain is far from plain, because Spain is not the first ever country to hold both the men’s and women’s FIFA World Cup at the same time. The Spanish women’s side won the 2023 edition in Australia with a 1-0 victory over England in the finale.

5. Continue To Mix With People From Other Cultures And Countries

One of the nicest things about the FIFA World Cup is that it allowed you to see and mix with many more people from many more diverse backgrounds. Just look at what happened when the residents of Lawrence, Kansas, embraced Team Algeria after it chose the home of the University of Kansas as its official base camp for the 2026 FIFA World Cup:

As was mentioned in the KCTV 5 news segment, this union between Algerians and Kansans is likely to last way past the duration of the World Cup.

Many Japanese fans also cleaned up both literally and figuratively when Americans were impressed by the Japanese football fans’ tradition of cleaning up the stadium after matches as this CBS Evening News segment showed:

And you could say that Scottish fans absolutely kilt it in Boston, as you can see in the following WBZ News segment:

So why not continue these feel-good mixing vibes? Consider traveling to other countries so that you personally can get a broader view of the world rather than relying on politicians and others to tell you what other countries are like. Even if you stay stateside, maybe mix more with communities that you normally don’t mix with so that you can diversify your experiences, perspectives and friends. You could also find that you have more in common with someone who “looks different" than you than people who look the same as you. .

As you can see, you are not without ways to handle your World Cup withdrawal symptoms. And make sure that the Cup runneth over with positive feelings and effects.