2026 World Cup - FOUR Reading activities

Reading Comprehension Package for North America World Cup, with four individual activities.

Whether you love soccer or not, the World Cup will dominate the headlines in 2026.

This collection of four guided reading activities, aimed at students aged 9 to 13, tests comprehension, retrieval, inference and deduction skills. There are also questions on word meaning, summarising, evidence and opinion.

The package focuses on the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while also introducing wider discussion about football history, sporting records, geography, politics and international relations.

Each activity includes a reading text, questions and answers, with an indication of how many marks are available for each question. This is particularly helpful for children preparing for reading tests and exams, encouraging them to give fuller answers where required.

The activities are designed to promote lively and thoughtful classroom discussion as students consider the excitement, pressure, records and controversies surrounding the biggest World Cup ever.

Contents
The World Cup 2026

General information about the World Cup in North America, including the history of the tournament, previous winners and what makes the 2026 competition bigger than ever before.

USA & Canada – what are their chances?

A look at how the World Cup could boost soccer in the USA and Canada, including home advantage, growing support, key players, host cities, travel distances and the pressure of playing on home soil.

Cristiano Ronaldo: A World Cup Record Breaker?

An engaging text about Cristiano Ronaldo potentially playing at the age of 41, his remarkable World Cup journey, and other older record-breaking players from World Cup history.

Iran, the USA and a tense World Cup

A thought-provoking activity exploring how sport and politics can be difficult to separate, focusing on Iran playing World Cup matches in the United States during a period of serious political tension.