Six billion people are expected to follow at least part of the 2026 World Cup, and for a brief period the way fans search for information is behaving more like the pre-AI internet than anything seen in recent years.
The key difference is a rare gap in Google’s AI Overviews. Only around 5–10% of football-related searches are triggering AI summaries, meaning most queries still lead users to traditional links rather than AI-generated answers.
That exception exists because Google remains cautious with live sports data. In a fast-moving environment where scores, incidents and standings change by the minute, the cost of getting information wrong is too high for automated summaries.
The result is an unusual window for publishers, with World Cup-related search traffic holding up far better than in most other categories, where AI Overviews have already reduced click-through rates significantly.
But that window is unlikely to last. Industry data suggests AI Overviews will expand further into live sports queries once systems improve enough to handle real-time accuracy at scale.
The shift is already changing how brands compete for visibility during the tournament.
FIFA’s official partners, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Visa and Hyundai, are not automatically dominating search results. In some cases, non-sponsor brands such as Nike, Puma and EA Sports are performing better due to stronger and more consistent content output.
This is weakening the long-standing assumption that official sponsorship guarantees digital visibility. Instead, sustained editorial presence appears to matter more in how brands surface in search and AI-driven discovery.
At the same time, FIFA and Google are both building their own AI systems around the tournament. FIFA is developing “Football AI” tools to deliver insights directly to teams and fans, while Google is embedding its AI products into World Cup coverage through media partnerships and broadcast integrations.
The direction of travel is clear. Search is moving from links to answers, and from publishers to platforms.
For now, the World Cup remains one of the last global events where traditional search behavior still largely holds. But once this window closes, it is unlikely to open again in the same way.