June Holiday Resources (NEW content for the World Cup)
Thought I was done with June resources, but seems like a LOT of providers decided to wait until the "last minute" to reveal new content for teachers and/or economists on the World Cup. Considering the men's World Cup only happens once every 4 years (and it has been 32 years since North America hosted it) I decided it was worth devoting one more post to some of the new stuff . . .
Jay LeBlanc
6/16/20264 min read
As I mentioned above, everything here is going to feature new resources either on the World Cup (which started last Thursday, but runs through mid-July) and Juneteenth (coming up this Friday - June 19th - in case you are looking forward to a 3-day weekend and not just seeing it as part of a bigger summer break! Since I started with Juneteenth last week, let's start with World Cup this time . . .
NAEE blog posts on the economics of the participating countries:
I've got to start with my colleagues at the National Association of Economic Educators (I am a member of NAEE) - they are doing a very creative slant on the World Cup by using it as an opportunity to integrate some geography AND economics into the mix. Not to mention the colorful graphics - MUCH better than what I do for my World Geography series. Below are an example of a single country (so you can see the details on each nation's economy) and an overview of a couple of the "groups" - remember, there are 48 nations competing this year! Go check it out . . . !
Posts for the 2026 World Cup, National Association of Economic Educators (NAEE), 2026, https://www.facebook.com/naeenet
The Economist Education Foundation - "Should football and politics mix?"
Missed this one in my earlier resource posts - this British non-profit (affiliated with "The Economist" Magazine) is rather inconsistent with e-mails updating their content, but I should have looked (knowing how "futbol" crazy Brits get during World Cup!). Anyway, they have an interesting take on the World Cup, focusing on the role of players/celebrities in the bigger scope of politics. As usual, just a couple of screenshots of their lesson - go to their website for more details or to download (does require a free registration to download the lesson) . . .
“FIFA World Cup 2026: should football and politics mix?”, The Economist Education Foundation (UK), May 2026, https://talk.economistfoundation.org/resources/fifa-world-cup-2026-should-football-and-politics-mix/
Library of Congress - The History of the World Cup
This is a good one if you have a student (or a class) looking for ways to integrate this into a history class - OR you are really into the sport! While the LOC has some resources themselves, one of the best things here is the curated list of books and website on this historical aspects of the sport over the past 100 years. I also included a link below to similar historical items related to soccer from the World War I Museum:
“LOC Research Guide - World Cup 1930-" (This research guide highlights Library of Congress collections on the FIFA World Cup), Library of Congress, Jun 2026, https://guides.loc.gov/world-cup/introduction
"The Beautiful Game" (sample virtual items from a new featured in-person exhibition), The National World War I Museum and Memorial, Apr 2026, https://www.theworldwar.org/exhibitions/beautiful-game
Three Blog Articles from Decode ECON, Econlife, and Econiful
Here are three recent (within the past week) articles from economists discussing economic aspects of the World Cup. I have to feature the Econlife article on World Cup referees as an example of human resources (rather than just focusing on the players) . . .
“What We Need To Know About World Cup Referees”, Econlife.com, Jun 2026, https://econlife.com/2026/06/world-cup-referees/
“The Best Marketing at the World Cup Wasn't Supposed to Happen: Business Lessons From the World Cup”, Decode ECON, Jun 2026, https://www.decodeecon.com/p/the-best-marketing-at-the-world-cup
“What the World Cup Can Teach Your Economics Class”, Econiful, Jun 2026, https://econiful.org/blog/what-world-cup-can-teach-your-economics-class
A Few New Podcasts on World Cup Topics
Finally, a few new podcast episodes related to the World Cup (and economic issues related to it). No graphics on this one (since these are audio, and I don't want/need to promote the podcast series) - but might be worth a listen . . .
“How much of an economic boom is the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the U.S. hosting cities?” (from All Things Considered), National Public Radio (NPR), Jun 2026, https://www.npr.org/2026/06/15/nx-s1-5847031/how-much-of-an-economic-boom-is-the-2026-fifa-world-cup-for-the-u-s-hosting-cities
“Is gambling the reason we have pro sports?” (from The Indicator by Planet Money), National Public Radio (NPR), Jun 2026, https://www.npr.org/2026/06/17/nx-s1-5860672/is-gambling-the-reason-we-have-pro-sports
“Economics In One World Cup”, CATO Institute podcast, Jun 2026, https://econiful.org/blog/what-world-cup-can-teach-your-economics-class
"World Cup 2026, Big Business: Inside FIFA's Biggest Stage with Fred Mangione", All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett, Jun 2026, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/world-cup-2026-big-business-inside-fifas-biggest-stage/id964837202?i=1000772223061
And for two podcasts looking at the impact on local areas:
"The World Cup's impact on New England", Vermont Public Radio, Jun 2026, https://www.vermontpublic.org/show/vermont-edition/2026-06-16/the-world-cups-impact-on-new-england
"What will the World Cup's impact look like for host cities?", Marketplace, Jun 2026, https://www.marketplace.org/episode/2026/06/11/what-will-the-world-cups-impact-look-like-for-host-cities
ECON and More
Curating articles for K-12 education.
CONTACT
© 2025. All rights reserved.