A real-time FIFA World Cup 2026 companion app with match reports, player stats, lineups, and standings, all powered by ESPN's live data feed. Built and shipped solo in time for the tournament opener.
Project Overview
The World Cup only happens every four years. I wanted to build something timely and genuinely useful: a clean, fast app that surfaces exactly what a fan needs: who played, what happened, and where the standings stand.
Designed, built, and deployed entirely solo. Live before the tournament opener. Data pulls from ESPN's public feed with no API key required. Squads, lineups, and player profiles update in real time as matches progress.
All 48 group-stage matches across Matchdays 1–3, knockout rounds, live standings, top scorers, player profiles, and match verdicts. Every fixture has a full breakdown with lineups and stats.
The app stays functional even when the ESPN feed is unavailable. Lineups render on the pitch roughly an hour before kickoff, with graceful fallback to full squad lists until then.
Capabilities
Complete Matchday 1, 2, and 3 coverage across all 12 groups, with results, venues, and kickoff times.
Starting XIs rendered on a pitch graphic roughly 1 hour before kickoff; falls back to full squad until then.
Group tables update automatically. Points, goal difference, goals for/against. Everything a fan tracks.
Golden Boot race, assists leaders, and per-player career stats pulled live from ESPN profiles.
Pre-match predictions blending betting markets with World Cup pedigree. Probabilities, not promises.
Clean, dark interface optimised for match-day reading with fast navigation between matchdays and knockouts.
Under the Hood
Architecture
Single-page React app with client-side data fetching. ESPN's public endpoints are queried directly: no backend, no API key, no quota. The entire app is statically deployed on Vercel's edge network for instant global load times.
Resilience
Fixtures, kickoff times, venues, and match verdicts are hand-verified as of June 2026. If the live ESPN feed is unavailable, the app degrades gracefully. Static data stays intact while dynamic player profiles wait for the feed to return.
Stack
Data Pipeline
The App is Live
All 24 opening fixtures are wrapped up. Tap any match to read the full breakdown: results, lineups, and player stats.
Open FIFA WC26 Matchday