World Cup Fever 2026

The FIFA World Cup 2026 kicked off in Mexico City on June 11^th at 8pm local time, with the opening fixture between Mexico and South Africa. To the extent that one can predict the outcome of the tournament from this chart, Scorpio rises, ruled by Mars in Aries, with the Moon also in Aries, showing an aggressive and competitive spirit. The chart is also graced by the Venus-Jupiter conjunction in Cancer, which may account for the good spirit found so far in host cities and stadiums. Rahu in the 4H shows The Beautiful Game in an unfamiliar environment, where it is still seen as foreign and strange.

The Third and Fifth House represent sporting contests, and Saturn in Pisces ruling the 3H in the 5H seems to show a defensive attitude and boring play. There are always a few awful games in World Cups, where national pride is at stake, and as George Orwell noted back in the 1940s, there's nothing like a sporting contest to make relations between two countries worse than they were before.

More positively, this astrological signature may stand for the defensive discipline of the lower-ranked teams, for whom fitness and organization are great levellers. The ‘low block’ has become part of the casual sports fan’s parlance, and 3H lord in the 5H is an apt symbol for ‘parking the bus’ - taking no risks and playing for a sneaky victory, or penalties. Take Cape Verde’s 0-0 draw with Spain in the early rounds, or the way France ground out a narrow win against Paraguay. Fifth house lord Jupiter in exaltation, however, has also given us pulsating games with an emotional undertow, like England-Mexico and Egypt-Argentina.

I said the following in Astrovedas Newsletter on June 22^nd:

“Mercury, planet of the mind, going retrograde in Cancer on June 29th should affect matters in the World Cup, with probably unexpected results, perhaps injuries or freak suspensions, and general quirks of fate. It's hoped the logistical side will remain smooth”.

Sure enough, June 29^th saw the first big upset, as Paraguay knocked out Germany (on penalties, of all things), and we have since seen Balogungate, where the USA striker's ban for a red card was overturned after an intervention straight from the White House. This reversal didn’t appear to affect the result against Belgium in the end, thankfully. ‘Hydration breaks’ are a local quirk of this World Cup, which hopefully will be booted into touch straight afterwards.

Mercury retrograde takes in the WC Final of July 19th and goes up altogether to July 23rd 2026 in the planet’s longest and slowest retrograde phase of 2026. With this in mind, it would be a fitting signature if France and Argentina, the two best sides so far, meet again in the final for a re-run of 2022.