As Houston prepares to host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Rice University will convene scholars, professionals, athletes and community members for a two-day conference examining soccer’s global reach far beyond the pitch. “The World at Play: The Beautiful Game in 2026” will take place Feb. 6-7 at Rice’s BioScience Research Collaborative. Organized by School of Humanities and Arts faculty Jacqueline Couti and Caroline Fache, the event is free and open to the public with registration strongly encouraged. (Click here to register.)
“This conference is grounded in the humanities, but it’s interdisciplinary,” said Couti, the Laurence H. Favrot Professor of French Studies and chair of Rice’s Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures (MCLLC). “We’re interested in what soccer means for people culturally, politically and emotionally — not just as a sport, but as a global social force.”
The 2026 World Cup marks the first time the tournament will be jointly hosted by three nations — the United States, Canada and Mexico — reflecting soccer’s growing globalization and its expanding economic, political and cultural influence. With Houston selected as a host city, Rice is positioning itself as a hub for critical engagement with the tournament’s broader implications.
“I believe deeply in the democratization of knowledge,” Couti said. “This conference is free and open because knowledge should not be restricted — it should be shared, debated and experienced by everyone.”
The conference will explore soccer as both a site of structural inequity and a potential force for transformation, examining issues including labor rights, gender equity, postcolonial legacies, environmental sustainability and the role of technology in modern sport. Disciplines represented include history, economics, psychology, cultural studies, sports management, data science and sports medicine.
“Soccer allows us to talk about politics, culture, gender, economics and identity in ways that feel immediate and relevant,” said Fache, associate professor of French studies. “It gives people a familiar entry point into complex conversations.”
The conference also reflects the breadth and creativity of French studies and MCLLC at Rice. Courses such as Fache’s France: The Soccer Empire illustrate how the curriculum extends well beyond traditional offerings, using topics like sport, media and national identity to explore contemporary France. That course in particular connects directly to the themes of the conference. Fache said the program and its roundtables were designed with Rice undergraduates in mind, including students in French studies, student-athletes and any student whose academic or personal interests intersect with the cultural, political and social questions raised by the conference.
Conference roundtables will examine soccer’s role in diplomacy and global politics, intersections of data science and athletic performance, gender equity in the sport, the psychological demands of elite competition and the economic, cultural and ethical consequences of hosting mega sporting events. Together, the sessions consider how soccer shapes and is shaped by the societies in which it is played.
“All of the sessions are roundtables, and they’re intentionally short,” Fache said. “We built in time for people to talk, connect and continue the conversation beyond the panel.”
The conference will feature two keynote speakers whose work spans athletics, scholarship and public engagement: Briana Scurry and Laurent Dubois, both of whom have shaped global conversations around soccer and society.
Scurry, a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, made 173 international appearances for the U.S. Women’s National Team, winning a World Cup and two Olympic gold medals. A founding player in the first professional women’s soccer league, she is now a leading advocate for traumatic brain injury awareness following a career-ending concussion.
Dubois is one of the world’s leading historians of the Atlantic world and global sports culture. A professor at the University of Virginia, he is the author of seven books, including “Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France” and has written widely on history, music and sports for national audiences.
For more information about the conference, click here.