World Cup Challenge 2026 is a football RPF prompt challenge to encourage and inspire football fans to create fanworks during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Creatives and football fans are encouraged to use the prompt list provided to write fanfics, create GIFs and art, and make other works about their national teams and favorite players.
Submissions begin June 14th, 2026 and end July 25th, 2026.
The challenge is broken down into six weeks. Each week has seven prompts: six words and one dialogue prompt. The challenge is to use the prompt in your work. You can create a work per day (each word/phrase corresponding with each day of the tournament) or you can create a work per week (using one or more of that week's prompts).
After you create your work, post onto Tumblr and/or Ao3, and tag @worldcupchallenge or #WorldCupChallenge2026, and we will reblog/share your work here!
If you have any questions, check our FAQs. Our askbox is open for further questions about how the challenge works or what the prompts mean.
Prompts:
Week One: Qualifying (June 14th - June 20th): Call up, Transfer window, Host Nation, Qualify, Home/Home base, Fan signing, “I’ve never seen/heard/tasted/felt that before.”
Week Two: Group Stage (June 21st - June 27th): Points, Yellow card, Hat trick, Striker, Handball, Kit/Uniform/Jersey, “Please don’t put that on social media.”
Week Three: Round of 16 (June 28th - July 4th): Park the Bus, Top bins, Clean sheet, Defender, Pitch invasion, The beautiful game, “[Player name] has just broken [record].”
Week Four: Quarter Finals (July 5th - July 11th): Red card, Corners, Offside, Midfielder, Nutmeg, The last dance, “The medical team says I can/can’t play.”
Week Five: Semi-Finals (July 12th - July 18th): Winger, Club vs. Country, VAR/Virtual Assistant Referee, Score, Tradition, Rivalry as old as time, “Today isn’t just about winning.”
Week Six: Final (July 19th - July 25th): Golden boot/glove, Winner/Loser, Penalty shootout, Panenka, Trophy, Champions of the World, “Win, lose, draw: it’s you and me.”
Optional/Bonus Prompts: (Can be swapped with any prompt)!
[Player does a special/meaningful celebration]
Goalkeeper
“Now what?”
Locker room/dressing room
“Don’t let them see you cry. Because today, we didn’t lose.”
Quick Guidelines:
Some prompts are vague to give creative freedom. Others are specific to help guide creatives. You do not have to take them literally, and you can interpret the prompts however you like!
There is no word minimum or maximum.
There is no submission limit.
There are no content restrictions. SFW/NSFW works, reader inserts, are allowed.
You can write about a previous world cup!
We are not associated with FIFA.
⚽ What is World Cup Challenge 2026? ⚽ Prompts ⚽ FAQs ⚽ Ask ⚽ Ao3 ⚽
Reminder that this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (August 6th - 8th) is our next creator retreat! We're taking a trip back to the 80s and 90s to make some nostalgic movie inspired AUs!
To participate you'll need to join our discord. The server is open to all rpf creators of all fandoms, who are 18 and up, whether you're a writer, artist, fanvidder, or gif maker!
You can now scroll through our tag #worldcupchallenge2026 or visit our Ao3 collection to check out all the submissions. Our queue will continue to post the remaining and late submissions.
But in the famous words of Declan Rice: it's not done. Leave us feedback on this event (this form is anonymous!) or send an idea for a future event.
Hello! This form is open to anyone who heard about, participated, or was interested in the Football RPF fandom event, World Cup Challenge 20
WOSO community! Brazil is on the horizon. Even though there's a year to go, if you watch women's football, consider taking our interest survey for a women's football RPF event (this form is anonymous! And there will be a future promotional post for this survey in the coming weeks!)
Hello! This is an interest form for a future Women's Football RPF event based on the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup, that will be held from Jun
Thank you to everyone who created for or interacted with this event! Hope to see you at the next one!
⚽ What is World Cup Challenge 2026? ⚽ Prompts⚽ FAQs⚽ Ask⚽ Ao3⚽
And if you're looking to celebrate this passionate and dynamic team, why not write or create a little fanwork for our challenge? Read our pinned post to find out more!
Some quick reminders for those of you who are just joining us and looking to create for this challenge:
We accept late submissions! If you're falling behind or want to write about a previous prompt, you still can. If you made something at the start of this world cup and now think it can be submitted, consider submitting it!
Works can combine prompts.
Prompts are up to interpretation by the creator.
There are no content restrictions for this event. All works are welcome as long as they abide by Ao3 policy.
There is no word minimum or maximum.
There is no submission limit.
⚽ What is World Cup Challenge 2026? ⚽ Prompts⚽ FAQs⚽ Ask⚽ Ao3⚽
The time is here at last! Whether you're tuning in as a seasoned fan or a first timer, we hope the first matches of this year's World Cup go smoothly. Best of luck to today's teams!
And our Ao3 Collection is live!
While WCC26 doesn't start until June 14th, it's never too early to start writing/creating. Check out our Ao3 collection if you want to share this event with people outside of Tumblr!
⚽ What is World Cup Challenge 2026? ⚽ Prompts ⚽ FAQs ⚽ Ask ⚽ Ao3 ⚽
Today's the Last Day! Submissions close at 23:00 EST!
Being that the final took place in New Jersey/New York, USA, our event will end on their time. But fear not! If you submit after this deadline, all you have to do is tag us or add your work to our AO3 collection.
In the meantime, we'd be grateful if you took our feedback survey!
⚽ What is World Cup Challenge 2026? ⚽ Prompts⚽ FAQs⚽ Ask⚽ Ao3⚽
Whether you predicted right or wrong, whether you watched for the sake of your favorite player or for your nation, whether you call it football or soccer, we all tuned into this year's world cup. History was made, defined by many. No one can deny that the game changed; for better or worse, will be the question asked in the coming years.
The best part of fanworks is knowing that fandom can ask and answer that question, and more, in ways others cannot.
Thank you to those who have participated so far. After the event ends on the 25th, please be on the lookout for our closing post, which will have a survey for this event and future events!
⚽ What is World Cup Challenge 2026? ⚽ Prompts⚽ FAQs⚽ Ask⚽ Ao3⚽
