The wait is almost over. On 11 June 2026, the FIFA World Cup 2026™ kicks off at the iconic Mexico City Stadium, the first of 104 matches, with 48 nations competing across 16 venues in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

When the action begins, behind the scenes, a group of football’s finest minds will be watching every pass, every press and every tactical shift with forensic attention.

FIFA’s Technical Study Group – led by FIFA Senior Football Expert Pascal Zuberbühler and guided by FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger – will bring together former players and coaches from across the world to analyse the game in real time and share their findings with coaches, fans and the global football community.

Comprising Otto Addo (Ghana), Tobin Heath (USA), Jürgen Klinsmann (Germany), Jayne Ludlow (Wales), Michael O’Neill (Northern Ireland), Gilberto Silva (Brazil), Jon Dahl Tomasson (Denmark), Paulo Wanchope (Costa Rica), Aron Winter (Netherlands) and Pablo Zabaleta (Argentina), the TSG represents one of the most experienced and diverse panels ever assembled for a FIFA World Cup™.

For the first time in FIFA World Cup history, fans will also be able to access real-time insights from the TSG through the FIFA Training Centre social media accounts and YouTube channel.

Former Switzerland international Zuberbühler, who set a unique record at Germany 2006 as the only goalkeeper of a team to be eliminated without conceding a single goal, knows better than most what it takes to compete at a FIFA World Cup. Now overseeing the TSG across all FIFA tournaments, he is relishing the scale of the challenge ahead.

“We are observing games remotely or from the stadium live. Those are experts; former players, former coaches, actual coaches. And this is always a group [with people] from around the world and also different genders. We are working very, very [closely] with our Football Performance Insights team. [In] football – modern football – it’s important. [Not only observation-wise], this is one part, but the other part is the data, the [live data coming in],” he said.

“It’s the first time we have 48 teams. This is fantastic, and I’m [very much looking forward] to see how the smaller teams amaze and how they play this tournament against the big nations,” added Zuberbühler.

One of the TSG’s most significant contributions will be making football’s complexity accessible to everyone. After every match, a 53-page free data report will be available to the entire world through fifatrainingcenter.com and its social media channels.

For the growing number of fans who relish the chance to examine the data behind each team’s performance and every contest, the numbers will no doubt be lapped up enthusiastically, but Zuberbühler is clear that data alone is only part of the story.

“After every game, you will have a free data report for the whole world. But the most important thing is what you have to do with [that data]. The next step for FIFA is going into these countries, into these areas, and if you have a coaching course there, or if you have an academy there from our Talent Development Scheme programme at FIFA – we also want to help them to make the next steps – how we can train, your weaknesses during a tournament, what we observed so far.”

“Arsène Wenger’s programme, it’s clear, he wants to give every talent a chance to get scouted, to get trained, to [play], and in the end to play for their national team,” Zuberbühler added. “This is a ‘red line’ through the development of world football. As our President, Gianni Infantino, mentions all the time, [we want to make] football global. We want to bring the teams closer together.”

Brazil’s 2002 FIFA World Cup winner Gilberto Silva, who made 244 appearances for Arsenal F.C., sees the TSG’s combination of lived experience and cutting-edge data as its defining strength.

“We hope to combine these two things: the data produced by the analysts while, at the same time, including our in-game observations, to make this information simpler for the audience, because, for some people, it’s very hard to just interpret the data on its own as they won’t always understand exactly what it means,” said Gilberto Silva.

“When they look at a match [analysis]: one player made ten passes, another made 50 passes. Sometimes, they might think that the player with 50 passes was the best player on the pitch. Sometimes, that kind of information can’t be directly translated. So, we’ll combine this information with what we see [during the matches]. In the end, it’s a collective football intelligence brought by people with different perspectives,” he said.

The Brazilian said that with the opening game within sight, the sense of anticipation among the group was tangible.

“When we get to this point, we get really excited about the competition starting soon, so we can start watching the games, seeing some goals, talking about what happened. The adrenaline starts pumping because of that as well. There is a lot of expectation; the expectations are high, very positive, but obviously there is, for me, a curiosity about how the newcomers will perform in this [FIFA World] Cup, which has a different format, with more teams – there are 48 national teams.”

Costa Rica’s Paulo Wanchope, who collected 73 caps for Los Ticos before going on to coach his country, is looking forward to uncovering the tactical trends that will define the tournament.

“In general, [we want] to be able to figure out new tactics implemented by the managers of each team. For example, seeing if there’s a trend of teams favouring a high press, or whether they prefer to wait and set up a low block to implement transitions. In general terms, we want to see the behaviour of the national teams that are favourites and those that are underdogs,” he said.

“Teams like Portugal – it’s a team made up of very high-quality players and which, in previous years, has not been one of the favourites. I consider them one of the contenders to win the (FIFA) World Cup, so I’m curious to see how Portugal perform.”

Ghana’s Otto Addo, who earned 15 caps as a player and has twice managed the Black Stars, believes this FIFA World Cup will reveal just how far the global game has evolved.

“I think there will be some surprises which people really don’t think about, because the gap between maybe the favourite national teams and the so-called smaller national teams is, I think, it’s shrinking,” said Addo. “I’m really, really looking forward to [seeing] the end of the group (stage),” he said.

“It’s really, really interesting to see if there are some patterns from different continents, also to see how, especially, European teams adapt in this heat, how the African teams, South American teams, who are maybe more used to the heat, to different circumstances, how they adapt. Also with the travelling, I think team around the team is very, very important also, to provide everything [that] the team needs.”

“My favourite part, to be honest, is to learn, to exchange different perspectives with coaches, with analysts from different countries. It’s always important, I think, to open your views and then also to change [your] views and to hear different opinions. This is so complex in football and this is what makes this job interesting.”

For Jayne Ludlow, who amassed 61 caps for Wales and coached her country from 2014 to 2021, the TSG’s work extends far beyond this tournament.

“The work within the TSG is all about looking for the trends in the game. So how is the game developing? What are we seeing? Each game that we’re watching throughout the [FIFA] World Cup – patterns and behaviours of players and obviously decisions of coaches. From a technical and a tactical sense, we’re going to delve into all elements of the game,” said Ludlow.

“Lots of development opportunities. When you think [about] all the data that we’ll collect, all the trends that we collect will be used in the future to develop coaches, develop teams and obviously keep evolving the game in the future.”

With 104 matches, 48 teams and a world watching, the moment is almost here – and thanks to the TSG members, fans can be sure to be provided with real insights into the keys to victory and the lessons to be drawn.