American World Cup team advances to knockout rounds as crypto meets soccer on home soil

The US men’s national soccer team is heading to the knockout rounds of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as group winners.

The USMNT finished first in Group D after a dominant group stage that included a 4-1 demolition of Paraguay on June 12 and a clean 2-0 win over Australia on June 19. A 3-2 loss to Turkey on June 25 was ultimately meaningless once the math worked out.

A historic run through the group stage

The US men hadn’t strung together back-to-back World Cup victories since 1930. That’s 96 years of waiting.

The expanded tournament format for 2026 allows the top two teams from each group to advance automatically, along with the eight best third-place finishers, feeding into a Round of 32. By topping Group D, the US earned a more favorable draw in that bracket.

Their reward is a July 1 matchup against Bosnia and Herzegovina, who squeaked through as one of those third-place qualifiers from Group B. The game will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Crypto finds its way onto the pitch

FIFA partnered with Kraken around June 9-10 to make the exchange the official crypto supporter of the 2026 World Cup. The collaboration aims to engage fans through crypto-related activations throughout North America and Europe during the tournament.

Crypto companies spent the last few years retreating from sports sponsorships after the FTX implosion turned every arena-naming deal into a punchline. FTX had its name on the Miami Heat’s home court until, well, it didn’t. Kraken’s FIFA deal signals that the industry is ready to step back into the spotlight.

What this means for crypto investors

The World Cup’s core audience skews younger than most major sporting events, and younger demographics have historically shown higher crypto adoption rates. Kraken’s sponsorship isn’t just about brand awareness — it’s about reaching the exact people most likely to convert into active users.

Crypto’s integration into mainstream sports sponsorships had stalled after the 2022 bear market and the FTX fallout. FIFA choosing Kraken as an official partner suggests that the largest sports organizations are once again comfortable associating with crypto brands.

Super Bowl ads in 2022 generated enormous buzz but coincided with a brutal market downturn that made those commercials age like milk.

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