World Cup annually: As cricket lost its soul, football managed to save

In the early summer of 2003, a 10-year-old boy in Chennai performed a ritual that would feel almost foreign in today’s digital age. He didn’t download the app or forward the link. Instead, he waited for the local paper to publish the full ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup fixture list in South Africa, went to the neighborhood copier and printed out dozens of copies. Over the next two days, he distributed these schedules to classmates, neighbors, and their parents. To miss a single game was to risk exclusion from a four-year cultural conversation. The tournament was not just an event. It was an epoch.

At the time, cricket and football shared the same psychological currency: expectation. Fans have spent years reliving old triumphs, reliving heartbreak and watching national teams slowly rebuild. Because the World Cup was rare, it felt sacred. His arrival changed routines, conversations and expectations.

That feeling in football remains alive. Earlier this month, cities across Kerala, along with traditional football bastions like Kolkata and the Northeast, were once again transformed into the FIFA World Cup. Giant cutouts of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo towered over the roads and rooftops. The houses were painted in the colors of Argentina and Portugal. Kozhikode, Kerala dressed for FIFA World Cup 2026 (PTI Photo)

The tournament, taking place thousands of kilometers away, has recaptured the imagination of a country that has not even qualified, and is unlikely to qualify for the next decade. A giant cutout of Lionel Messi in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (PTI Photo)

The hunger was evident as fans spent four years waiting.

On the other hand, cricket runs a very different machine. The TV screens rarely go dark and the promotional drums never stop beating. One year brings the Champions Trophy. Next up is the T20 World Cup. When layered on top of the World Test Championship, women’s tournaments and global age-group events, a remarkable reality emerges: cricket now hosts a major international event almost every year.

It should be a golden age on paper. Revenues are growing, streaming records are regularly broken and ICC events continue to attract huge audiences. However, beneath the commercial success lies a quieter question. If fans are still watching in record numbers, why do so many feel like something has been lost?

The answer may not lie in consumption. It lies in expectation.

FULL MARKET

“The stars we once saw as idols have either retired or moved past their prime,” says Chennai-based cricket fan Palaniappan Subramanian.

“But more than that, the world cups and championships are less expected almost every year. There are just too many of them.”

For most of cricket’s modern history, eras have been measured by the four-year rhythm of the ODI World Cup. The gap between tournaments allowed the stories to mature.

India’s journey between 2003 and 2011 illustrates this. In 2003, there was heartbreak in Johannesburgthe humiliation of a group stage exit in 2007 and finally redemption under MS Dhoni in Mumbai in 2011. The wait magnified the reward. A failed World Cup campaign could haunt a generation as the next opportunity was four years away. The 2003 World Cup final still stings (Photo Reuters)

Today, the cycle is different. A disappointing ICC campaign is quickly followed by another global event. The reflection is shortened. Defeat hurts, but another chance comes before the wound settles.

The trophy is no longer a souvenir. This is a lease that expires in 11 months.

India’s Champions Trophy triumph in 2025 it was inevitably conceived as redemption for the heartbreak of the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Comparing the eight-team tournament to the emotional weight of a home World Cup final illustrates how compressed cricket’s narrative cycles have become.

“I always get excited about the ODI World Cup, but the T20 version doesn’t give me the same feeling,” says Prithvi, an engineer based in the United States. “The term World Cup is overused. It dilutes the sacred nature of what it means to be the best in the world.” India won the Champions Trophy in 2025, less than 18 months after losing the World Cup home final (Getty Images)

Critics of modern cricket often point to oversaturation. Administrators respond with numbers. Broadcast deals are worth billions, and tournament finals continue to attract staggering audiences.

However, financial success masks a fragile reality. Unlike football, which relies on thriving domestic ecosystems across continents, cricket remains overwhelmingly dependent on the subcontinent, predominantly India. Because a single market underpins much of the game’s commercial value, the sport cannot afford to go long periods without premium inventory. The result is an endless cycle of marquee events for broadcasters and fans alike.

COMPANY BLUEPRINT

Institutional recognition of this shift is no longer limited to nostalgic fans. Some of the sport’s most influential figures openly discuss it.

Ravi Shastri, who has spent years at the center of the Indian dressing room, has offered a remarkable assessment in 2022.

“I don’t remember a single T20 International match in the last six or seven years as India coach, apart from the World Cup,” he said.

Shastri’s broader point was even more revealing. Franchise cricket, he argued, should occupy most of the calendar, while international cricket should reserve its emotional capital for major tournaments.

“You play franchise cricket all over the world. Then every two years or four years you come together and play in the World Cup. That’s how you keep it special.”

His comments are in line with the economic transformation reshaping the sport. IPL, SA20, hundred, CPL, Big Bash and ILT20 have changed the priorities of players and administrators. Bilateral cricket is no longer the primary source of prestige or income.

Arun Dhumal, chairman of the IPL, sees this trend as inevitable.

“Every player finds more value in IPL or any domestic league as compared to bilateral cricket,” he told IndiaToday.in in June.

“If traction with bilateral cricket is going down, there may be another way to do it.

When asked if cricket is moving towards a club and country structure, Dhumal was unequivocal.

“Yes, it’s coming. We have to prepare for it.”

LARGE NO. OF TRANSMITTERS

The shift reflects a broader reality. Traditional bilateral series are increasingly difficult to sell. Three-match ODI and T20I series often struggle to generate sustained interest, especially when they have little wider significance. To compensate, cricket administrators have expanded the inventory that broadcasters value most: ICC events.

The World Cup or Champions Trophy guarantees an audience, subscribers and sponsors. It offers certainty in a fragmented media environment. The problem is that each new global tournament takes away the exclusivity that once made the World Cup unique. After all, scarcity is not just a planning tool. It is the basis of memory.

THE LOST ART OF WAITING

Football is hardly immune to commercial expansion. The expanded FIFA Club World Cup and 48-team Men’s World Cup have attracted criticism. But one principle remains intact: The World Cup still only comes once every four years.

The same applies to the European Championship and the Copa America.

Football understands that anticipation is an advantage. Domestic leagues and continental club competitions satisfy the weekly appetite for elite competition. International football can therefore afford to disappear long enough to be missed.

This absence creates desire. Desire creates meaning.

Fans remember where they were when Zinedine Zidane headed Marco Materazzi, when Andres Iniesta scored in Johannesburg, when Lionel Messi lifted the trophy in Doha. These memories linger not only because of what happened, but also because of how long fans waited for these moments to come. When Kolkata cheered at the 2014 World Cup (India Today Photo)

Cricket tries to have it both ways. It takes the immense wealth generated by franchise leagues while maintaining an international calendar built for a different era. The result is a crowded ecosystem in which global tournaments are increasingly asked to carry the commercial burden of the entire sport.

Cricket still rules the audience. It continues to produce memorable players and memorable moments. What they are increasingly trying to produce is desire.

The great strength of the FIFA World Cup is not just its scale. It is her willingness to remain absent. Football has been going away long enough for people to miss it.

This is what cricket has forgotten. A 10-year-old boy who copied World Cup schedules in Chennai did not respond to marketing. He reacted to the rarity. Each device was rare because each device was valuable.

Today, world cricket champions change so often that even devoted followers sometimes struggle to remember who holds which crown.

Sports still generate huge revenues. Streaming records will continue to fall. Corporate presentations will continue to celebrate unprecedented growth.

But scarcity is the one commodity that sport cannot produce once it is lost.

And without a shortage, even the most spectacular World Cup is in danger of becoming just another event on the calendar.

– The end

Issued by:

Akshay Ramesh

Published on:

June 21, 2026 12:15 PM IST