Welcome back to Mid-Day Maidaan, your ultimate stadium pass to everything happening in the world of sports. The FIFA World Cup 2026 has officially commenced, bringing an unprecedented level of scale, drama, and expansion to the beautiful game. For the first time in football history, 48 teams are battling it out across three host nations—the United States, Canada, and Mexico—meaning a mammoth 104 matches packed into a grueling 39-day summer schedule.

In this episode, our sports desk dives deep into the tournament openers and analyzes the brand-new structural layout. With 12 groups of four, the race to progress is more chaotic than ever, as even the best third-placed teams get a lifeline into a brand-new Round of 32. We look at the absolute must-watch group phase blockbuster fixtures, including France vs. Erling Haaland's Norway and England’s high-stakes reunion with Croatia.

In this episode, we discuss- 

The Senegal team's not-so-warm welcome

How Geopolitics affects global sports

Biggest highlights of the season.

Coming soon...

Welcome to the premier episode of The Mid-Day Maidaan sports podcast, your ultimate arena for deep-dive sports analysis! 

In this inaugural episode, Mid-day’s Editor-in-Chief Sachin Kalbag and Sports Editor Ashwin Ferro pull up their chairs to dissect the massive, high-stakes drama of the IPL 2026 Grand Finale. It was a season for the history books, but the conversation goes far beyond just who lifted the championship trophy.
The duo dives deep into the tournament's absolute biggest talking points:

Links:

'Phenomenal!': Sachin Tendulkar, Chris Gayle react to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s explosive IPL 2026 innings

Connect With Us:

Read Mid-day Sports @ mid-day.com/sports

Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/middayindia

Get latest updates on Instagram: @middayindia

Subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@middayindia