The 2026 World Cup will be the first tournament in history to feature 48 teams. It is also a test for everyone who says they know how to work with multi-GEO. This year, almost every major betting market will have its own reason to get involved in the event: LATAM will be supporting its teams, Europe will be cheering on its players and India will be enjoying all the football hype. The same match can provoke different reactions and demand tailored coverage in each region.
So, if you are planning to enter the tournament with generic content, we wish you good luck! But instead, we recommend reading or listening to the new edition of Point of View, where Yauheni Rehuzak, Media Content Lead at Already Media, and MelBet Partners & Affiliates explain why football in LATAM is not just a sport but a cultural code for viewers, how it shapes player behaviour, and who has a real chance to make money from this year’s World Cup.
For betting audiences, this is not just another sports event. It is one of the biggest news stories in global football. Historically, this has always been the case: the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was watched by around five billion people — two-thirds of the planet — while the 2018 World Cup reached three and a half billion. The audience grew by almost 1.5 billion viewers in just one tournament cycle. That is not gradual growth. It is a significant increase.
There are other interesting figures as well. Recent Jumio research showed that one in three bettors worldwide (33%) plans to open a new account specifically for the World Cup. In other words, people are coming to sportsbooks specifically because of the tournament. The figure is 37% in the US, 34% in Mexico and 30% in Singapore. All of these are new users. This is why our main goal is to provide our partners with maximum coverage across our entire media ecosystem: our website, social media, Telegram, Instagram, YouTube, short-form content and community activities. We do not want to rely on one universal format. Instead, we want to use a variety of different mechanics that can be adapted to specific audiences and GEOs.
All of our promotions, content and activities will be tailored to the tournament period and will include quizzes, giveaways, match predictions, community interactives, short videos, static posts, promotional banners, curated selections, local football stories and content around key matches. In other words, we want to do more than simply show an offer — we want to place it inside the live context of the World Cup.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature 48 teams, compared to 32 in the previous tournament. This represents more than just a 50% increase in national teams. The number of matches has also grown, from 64 to 104 — almost one and a half times more. The tournament will be longer, the engagement window wider, and, for the first time, four new nations will enter the World Cup simultaneously.
More teams does not mean “more of the same content.” It will require a different working structure, built around micro-teams, local voices and a mix of different formats running together. The task becomes more complex, but the potential is also much greater. In this environment, communication must be tailored to micro-audiences. Localisation is not just about language. Several other factors matter just as much:
An affiliate that continues to produce universal content will simply become invisible in half of the GEOs during this tournament. This will be especially true in the newest and “hungriest” markets, as this is the first World Cup in their country’s history.
In LATAM, football is more than just a hobby for locals – it’s a way of living. I have often noticed what happens during matches in Buenos Aires: it’s a real celebration, with performances in the stands, drums, flags and fireworks. Even watching it on a screen gives you chills. As a fan, I would love to experience a stadium like that in person.
Betting on your team is not about money. It’s a way of being with the players and sharing the moment with them. All of that emotion directly influences how people bet. A LATAM bettor follows their heart, not their head. They don’t sit with a calculator checking xG or analysing form over the last five matches. They bet on their national team because not betting feels like not showing support. In Europe, betting is often a private affair: you open the app on the underground, place a bet and close it again. In LATAM, people sit with friends at a bar, chat with their mates and bet together before the match. It’s like ordering another round of beers. This is why group activities work so well there, such as challenges, predictions and bets between friends.
Let me give you an example of a strong local storyline that also appeals to a broad audience. Just four years ago, Abdukodir Khusanov, a young footballer from Tashkent, was playing for Energetik-BGU in Belarus, having joined them on a free transfer. A year and a half later, French club Lens signed him for the modest sum of €100,000. Another year and a half later, in January 2025, Manchester City bought him for €40 million. Abdukodir is twenty years old, is the first Uzbek player in the history of the English Premier League, and is a starting defender under Guardiola.
Meanwhile, the Uzbekistan national team has qualified for the World Cup for the first time in its history. Khusanov was one of the key players in that qualifying campaign. Imagine it: a country that has never played in the World Cup is going to play in it with a player who starts for one of the world’s top clubs. Stories like this are genuinely inspiring. You find yourself emotionally invested in them and want both the player and the national team to achieve the best possible results. Fans are already invested because they have learned an incredible success story — one that proves anything is possible.
Now, back to the content. In terms of how the material is presented, nothing changes dramatically. However, reaction speed has increased dramatically over the past year. With AI, any news hook can be processed many times faster. Algorithms favour those who publish first: post a goal within five minutes of it happening, and your post could instantly fly to the top. This is why, today teams can prepare for several possible scenarios in advance and then use AI to quickly process information and publish content almost in real time.
We follow the tournament calendar and understand in advance which matches will create the strongest news hooks, which teams will trigger the biggest emotional response, and which storylines and formats are most likely to perform well. For example, a controversial moment in a match is best presented as a short reaction video rather than a long post. A historic win by a debutant nation lends itself to storytelling and infographics. A questionable refereeing decision works best as a meme. This is not guesswork in real time. It is preparation in advance. When the key moment comes, the team publishes the content right away without spending time thinking about how to package it.
Creatives built around the same event are also interpreted differently in different GEOs. That is why even for one shared news hook, we prepare several versions, not one universal post, but local adaptations that fit the cultural code of each region. High-quality improvisation always comes from experience and preparation. Once a team has developed established patterns, creative skills and a deep understanding of formats, they can produce strong content in minutes. I recently described the process in this article.
I have been a football fan since the 2006 World Cup. That makes 20 years now. Working in this area is therefore always a particular pleasure for me. It’s not just that I understand all the nuances of football well – I live it, and that gives me a certain advantage in my work. For example, it helps me to better understand the audience and their interests. With the smart use of AI tools, we can now create a unique tone of voice for each GEO, speak directly to football fans’ hearts, capture their attention and make valuable offers that are hard to refuse.
This has deep historical roots. For a long time, the LATAM region was quite poor. And for people, football became an outlet – something that brought everyone together, regardless of age, income or city. In Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, children grow up playing football every free minute they have. We should also remember that football in LATAM has always been – and will always be – a story about heroes who came from those very streets. Pelé, Maradona, Ronaldinho and Neymar are just a few of the legends who have inspired millions of young athletes. This is why the World Cup is so important in LATAM. People live the game. They experience the tournament through emotion, memories and pride in their country and players.
People’s emotions are on an entirely different level. Some brands are simply not prepared for that. Many assume that a tournament will automatically lead to a massive increase in betting activity. However, the thing is, LATAM has its own traditions. Rather than classic betting, people engage through their local ‘pools’. In Argentina, it is called Prode. In Brazil, it is Bolão. Friends, family members and colleagues put money together and predict the results of matches among themselves. If you guess correctly, you win the entire pot. During the tournament, these conversations are literally everywhere — in offices, bars, family gatherings, and at picnics.
So for people in LATAM, the World Cup is a social experience. Everyone gathers to watch the matches together, argue, discuss line-ups, and get emotional about every game. If your brand comes in with a message like ‘Bet here and now’, it will not resonate. It will only create doubt and push people away. What works here is organic engagement — mechanics that become part of the shared football vibe, such as predictions between friends, live activations, local memes, team challenges, and promos that people actually start discussing with one another.
You’ve gotta become one of them. People need to recognise and accept you. There will be so many offers that the audience will be overwhelmed. A basic welcome mechanic or banner advertising boosted odds will not impress anyone. Remember that people can quickly spot when a brand truly knows the region’s football culture – and when it’s just trying to make money. It’s important to understand how, when and which approaches to use, and to be aware of where the audience is more cautious and where they are hungry for aggressive promotions.
For example, in Brazil, brands actively enter the market through loud advertising campaigns. One local example is the beer brand Brahma. The company promised the audience free beer if Brazil’s national team won the title. It’s that simple, yet effective, and it strongly resonates with the overall mood of football fans. Research the audience, their habits, triggers, cultural codes and local specifics. In this region, the target audience is used to – and expects – special lines, super odds and tournament promos. Without understanding these nuances, your offer will simply get lost among hundreds of thousands of others.
Never pressure the local audience with standard advertising. It doesn’t work — it only pushes people away. Locals live and breathe football, and they can immediately sense when something feels wrong. Use formats that fit naturally into their football habits and context. For example, someone might be watching a match with friends in a bar, discussing the line-up on WhatsApp or taking part in a Bolão. At that moment, they don’t need a loud advertising banner offering a generic bonus. They need something that fits into their current scenario, such as making a quick prediction, betting on a specific moment in the match, challenging their friends, or receiving a live offer after a goal.
Use wording and offers that feel emotional and alive rather than purely promotional. Instead of ‘Get a World Cup bonus’, try ‘How will the match end? ‘, ‘Will there be a goal in the second half?’, or ‘Can the national team push through after 1–1? ‘. This is much closer to how people actually talk about football.
From the moment you start working in the region around the World Cup, it is crucial to prioritise engagement and retention. If your communication is well-built and matches the local context, attracting a new audience during an event like this will not be that difficult. Retaining them is a different challenge. Once the tournament ends, many people will return to their usual routines, such as playing Bolão or watching matches with family. To prevent this, you need to encourage the habit of returning to the product. Use live formats, personalised offers and reminders about local leagues, club football, the Copa Libertadores, derbies and other events that will remain relevant after the World Cup final.
On June 11, millions of people around the world will once again start speaking the same language – the language of football. But in every region, it will sound different. In LATAM, it will be expressed through emotion, pride, family traditions, and a sense of unity. In other GEOs, it will come through their own habits, formats, and engagement scenarios. Brands and affiliates can come in for a quick spike and get an equally quick drop-off. Or they can use the tournament as an opportunity to build long-term relationships with their audience. The difference between these two approaches lies in how deeply a brand understands the market. This will determine whether they simply collected traffic or actually won this tournament.