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The BBC has faced criticism from certain quarters for its decision not to set up a studio in North America from the start of the World Cup.
Instead, the corporation will initially broadcast from Salford, although it will reportedly fly out its stars for the latter stages of the tournament, especially if England or Scotland are still in the mix.
It is not the only aspect of the BBC’s coverage that is new for 2026, with fans now able to watch the game through a different medium via its World Cup 2026 3D Experience. I checked it out and this is what I thought.
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This is what I thought of the BBC’s World Cup 3D Experience
The feature is easy to access, with the option to ‘Experience this match in 3D’ below the score at the top of each live match page on the BBC Sport website.
I tuned in for the second half of Iraq’s clash with Norway in Group I and had no idea what to expect - and not just because neither of these countries had competed at a World Cup this century.
Therefore, I was a bit surprised to be greeted with graphics that looked a bit like one of those smartphone football games, where there is no way to identify the players other than the colour of their kits.
In fact, the initial ‘broadcast’ view of the game (effectively the same angle that you would see on TV) shows 22 faceless players with only a couple of different haircuts to distinguish them - Erling Haaland’s flowing locks were nowhere to be seen.
It must be said that the movement of the players is very slick and looks more human than a lot of video games with similar graphics, although that changed when the second-half hydration break arrived and some of the players started disappearing and popping up a few yards away, possibly because they were all grouped too closely by the side of the pitch.
As well as the broadcast angle, you can also watch from a ‘tactical’ perspective which gives a birdseye view of the pitch with lines to show the distances between players, which is useful when tracking a team’s shape.
However, the most interesting aspect are the ‘third person’ and ‘first person’ views. For each of those, you can pick any player and follow the game at pitch level from behind them (third person) or by looking through their eyes (first person).
While it does not have the same impact as the ‘Ref cam’ on TV which shows real players, you still get some idea of the speed of the game at pitch level.
You can also gain useful insight from the icon in the top right corner, where you can toggle through various statistics including final third entries, line breaks and the shot map of each team for one or both halves, although only the true stat-heads may find this genuinely fascinating.
Overall, it feels like it is those people who will ultimately enjoy this most. If you are really into your statistics and tactics you could spend quite a while on the BBC’s World Cup 3D Experience, but otherwise you will probably switch back to the real thing before too long.
