Canada and South Africa set to make World Cup history as Kraken’s FIFA sponsorship puts crypto center stage

Two nations that have never tasted knockout-stage football at a World Cup will face each other at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on June 28 or 29. Canada and South Africa both advanced from their respective groups in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and now one of them will reach the Round of 16 for the first time in their history.

How they got here

Canada finished second in Group B after falling 2-1 to Switzerland, a result that stung but wasn’t enough to derail their tournament. Getting out of the group stage at all represents uncharted territory for a Canadian program that has historically treated World Cup qualification as the finish line, not the starting gate.

South Africa’s path was arguably more dramatic. Bafana Bafana secured second place in Group A with a 1-0 victory over South Korea, a gritty defensive performance that echoed the kind of pragmatic football that gets results in tournament play.

Here’s the thing about this fixture: Canada is technically a host nation in 2026, since the tournament is spread across the US, Mexico, and Canada. But the knockout match will be played in California, meaning Canada has to travel outside its own borders for elimination-round football. That’s an unprecedented wrinkle for a co-host country.

The expanded 48-team format makes all of this possible. The 2026 tournament is the first World Cup to feature 48 nations, up from the traditional 32.

Kraken and FIFA’s crypto play

The 2026 World Cup isn’t just breaking new ground on the pitch. Off it, FIFA has entered the crypto space by partnering with Kraken as its first official crypto-exchange sponsor.

Neither Canada nor South Africa currently has a dedicated fan token. The fan token market, popularized by platforms like Socios, tends to cluster around traditional European powerhouses and South American giants. The absence of tokens for these two nations means the crypto enthusiasm around this particular match is flowing through broader channels: prediction markets, exchange-based trading, and general World Cup speculation rather than team-specific digital assets.

Prediction markets facilitating bets on World Cup outcomes have seen growing engagement throughout the tournament. When neither team has knockout-stage precedent, the odds-making becomes more art than science.

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