Andrés Cantor Has High Hopes For 2026 FIFA World Cup

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a little more than 200 days away and legendary broadcaster Andrés Cantor can’t wait.

“I believe it’s going to be the greatest sporting event to be held in this country, period—regardless of whatever sport you want to talk about,” said Cantor, an eight-time Emmy winner. “There isn’t a single soul in this country that won’t know that the World Cup is being played in the U.S.”

Co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is expected to be the most lucrative sporting event ever staged with FIFA’s revenues projected to eclipse $10 billion, according to London-based Pitch Marketing Group.

Next summer’s tournament, the first to feature 48 participating nations, is expected to welcome a record 6.5 million people from the opening match on June 11 in Mexico City to the Final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

The 104-match marathon is expected to drive up to $40.9 billion in GDP throughout the continent, according to a study from FIFA and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“(The 1994 World Cup) put soccer on the map in the U.S.,” Cantor said. “Now it will just expand that footprint to make sure everyone knows about the beautiful game. … This World Cup will be huge. It will be the most important sporting event in the history of our country.”

As fans do their best to try to secure coveted match tickets in the lead up to the tournament, Cantor, whose ticket—well, technically press credential—is secured for another summer, sets his sights on the task at hand.

Not only will Cantor be coordinating efforts of his Fútbol de Primera network as Spanish-language rights holder for its seventh consecutive World Cup, he’ll be diligently compiling, organizing and updating his notes for his play-by-play duties.

The 2021 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee has covered enough World Cup tournaments to know he has to do the bulk of his research and prep ahead of the event as free time and sleep are as highly sought after during a FIFA World Cup as the World Cup trophy is itself.

Having slept in airports, on trains, waiting room couches and just about anywhere else he can get in a cat nap during a World Cup, the 62-year-old is ready for the demands of covering a month-long tournament for Telemundo across an entire continent.

“For everyone who covers the World Cup, it’s a marathon,” he said. “… I’m up for it. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully it will be lots of fun.”

If anyone knows how to have fun in the booth, it’s Cantor. Not only has he shed tears during a call as his beloved Argentina hoisted the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the Buenos Aires-born broadcaster gives it his all for his iconic Goooooool celebration call.

Realizing his aspirations of being a professional player were short lived as he grew up, Cantor sought to do the next best thing: be a broadcaster. Inspired by the voices, emotion, pace and knowledge of broadcasters including José María Muñoz, Vin Scully and Chick Hearn, Cantor’s voice has become synonymous with soccer.

Even his son, Nico, has followed in his father’s footsteps as a soccer broadcaster for CBS Sports/Paramount+.

While the elder Cantor has been on the call for iconic moments in U.S. soccer history from Landon Donovan’s last-minute goal against Algeria at the 2010 FIFA World Cup to Carli Lloyd’s hat trick in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, arguably his proudest call has been those with his son.

The two first worked together during a Spanish-language broadcast of a friendly between Mexico and Colombia. Recently, they became the first father-son duo to share a TV booth in the history of major U.S. English-language sports broadcasting when they were on the call for Paramount+ for the 2025 Concacaf Nations League semifinal between Canada and Mexico.

“To be able to share the booth with him in English was very touching and moving,” Andrés Cantor said. “I said to Nico, ‘This is your house. You take over and I’ll follow you.’ He knew how to read me without me over-explaining myself on a situation because he knows the way I think and interpret the game, and I felt comfortable in our give-and-go because I knew where he was coming from. We had lots of fun.”

Needless to say, Cantor will have fun being on the call next summer for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, especially if Lionel Messi and Argentina are able to defend their title.

“If you love the game or you love your job,” Cantor said, “you have to give it 100%.”