The World Cup is over. It’s now time to reflect on what it will be remembered for and what were some of the biggest highlights. SBC Media sat down with Mark Wilson, Head of Trading at EveryMatrix, to provide a summary of a sportsbook’s perspective.
With a total of 48 teams and 104 games across a five-week period, the 2026 FIFA World Cup was the biggest edition in the tournament’s entire history spanning back to 1930.
Take into account that football is generally the sport that generates the most betting volume for sportsbook operators, and that there was no other football event to simultaneously compete with the World Cup, and it becomes clear that this summer was nothing short of eventful for EveryMatrix’s partners.
Perhaps not surprising, FIFA’s global team rankings were actually proven to be accurate, as the four top-ranked teams in the world were all playing against each other in the semi-finals.
This, of course, produced some consumer-friendly results, Wilson observed. There were still great results for operators seen across the board though, with the game between Spain and Cape Verde being one of the most glaring examples of that.
Overall, “users were engaged right to the end” as Wilson puts it.
This engagement apparently led to new trends being witnessed during the World Cup, with EveryMatrix confirming that markets on player performance are now of core importance for bookmakers, especially around players of superstar level like Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe and Haaland.
According to Wilson, every game that involved a superstar player had percentages of stakes placed on them that EveryMatrix “has never seen before”.
Interestingly, some stars seemed to be light years ahead of others, with Wilson directly comparing Ronaldo to Messi – the former “not as nearly popular” as the latter, who featured on as many betslips “as if he was in his prime”.
Another key element of this World Cup unlike any other from previous editions were the infamous hydration brakes, during which the clock kept going. The latter detail escaped EveryMatrix until the very last moment prior to the tournament, Wilson admitted, leading to real-time adaptation on the company’s side.
In terms of the actual offer, EveryMatrix put heavy emphasis on bet builders and in-play markets, ensuring that in-play uptime is as high as it can be to keep the players into the ecosystem.
The company saw “a really big increase” in the use of bet builders and pre-match markets around player performance and in-game events, which has been a trend across the wider sports betting sector ever since bet builders became a frequent proposition.
EveryMatrix saw actual in-play percentages dropping, but of course that could be attributed to the kick-off times which were not ideal for European audiences.
All in all, WIlson remained committed to analysing what worked and what didn’t to the smallest detail, and then carry over everything learned into the next football season.
