🌡️ Fever pitch

On July 17, 1994, Dunga, Romário, Bebeto et al hoisted Brazil’s fourth World Cup trophy aloft after a grueling final against Italy, played under the brutal summer sun of Pasadena, California. The severe heat — as it did throughout the first US-hosted World Cup — had a significant impact on the quality of football on display in the final, with neither side able to muster a goal over 120 minutes of play. The tournament was decided on penalty kicks.

Thirty-two years on, the World Cup has returned to the US — with Canada and Mexico given their own small slices of the hosting duties. Not only have many of the cities, stadiums and participating countries changed, but the climatic playing field has also shifted. Roughly half of all human-induced global warming has occurred since Brazil won the tournament on that baking July day in 1994.

Kicking off today with Mexico facing South Africa, the 2026 World Cup will be more than a tournament, it will be a…

Don’t miss out! Upgrade to unlock full access. The process takes only seconds with Apple Pay or Stripe. Become a member.

We’re here for readers who want to truly understand Brazil and Latin America — a region too often ignored or misrepresented by the international media.

Since 2017, our reporting has been powered by paid subscribers. They’re the reason we can keep a full-time team of journalists across Brazil and Argentina, delivering sharp, independent coverage every day.

If you value our work, subscribing is the best way to keep it going — and growing.

You're already a subscriber — which means you've made a choice. You decided that understanding Brazil, accurately and ahead of the headlines, was worth paying for. Thank you. That choice is the reason we exist.

Every contribution above your subscription goes directly into journalism: the reporters and editors on the ground in São Paulo, Brasília, and Rio who file what parachute correspondents and recycled-wire intelligence simply can't. It's the difference between covering 2026 and covering it the way it deserves to be covered.

If The Brazilian Report has earned a place in how you read the country, consider giving beyond what you already pay. Whatever the amount, it funds the work — and it keeps it independent.