Golden Goal

An independent, Brooklyn-based magazine about the 2026 World Cup about both the least important and the most important things the tournament has to offer. Golden Goal celebrates the sport’s beauty and diversity while rigorously investigating its growing rot, aiming to reflect the experience of watching the tournament itself: funny, raucous, depressing, and invigorating in equal measure. The central question threading through all 120 pages: Why the World Cup?

The magazine features pieces by over 30 writers — including Hua Hsu, Merve Emre, Hamid Ismailov, David Goldblatt, Zito Madu, Ed Park, and Javier Zamora — with dispatches from writers in 12 participating countries, 11 writers on 11 prominent players, and long-form essays on Fabrizio Romano, the history of soccer in Palestine, the manager as national avatar, and World Cup countries that no longer exist.