New Delhi: It is all celebrations and cultural mingling in the US as the 2026 FIFA World Cup fever takes centre stage. But few would have guessed that the tournament is also accelerating “swiping” on dating app Tinder.
While countries are taking to the streets—celebrating wins. From Norwegians rowing en masse in New York City’s Times Square or Brazilians already partying in Houston, much before their win against Japan, the festive mood is going crazy.
But somehow, fans find time between football matches to go on dates. Swiping on Tinder by international users, The Independent reported, witnessed a rise of 47 per cent from 11 June to 16 June, compared to last year.
Changing locations
Football, especially the 2026 FIFA World Cup, is helping people date across continents.
After the world’s largest football tournament started, there was a 15 per cent rise in Tinder users in the US and around a 25 per cent increase in Swipe activity. There has been around a 60 per cent increase in matches compared to June 2025, reported Mashable. The data indicate that the activity is more than ordinary summer tourism. The same trend continues in co-host countries—Canada and Mexico. There is an increase of 60 per cent from the previous year.
The Sweden vs Tunisia match in Monterrey, Mexico, emerged as the strongest hotspot for Tinder activity, with activities surging by more than 80 per cent.
Most people are switching their locations to New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Miami using the Passport mode. According to Tinder, the top origin countries are Great Britain, Brazil, Thailand, and Nigeria, excluding the host countries.
Also read: It took 7 years to engineer stadium grass for the FIFA World Cup
Common sight during sports tourneys
It is pretty common for singles to have some fun, either dating or hookups, during sports tournaments. During the Paris 2024 Olympics, Mashable reported there was a 20 per cent increase in swipes in France. And a 103 per cent increase in Passport Mode (a paid feature to change location on the app). Most users changed their location to Paris.
During the Olympics, more than 50 per cent of people registered on Tinder with “Olympian” as their job description, and 43 per cent in the “athlete” category. It was the same during the 2018 Winter Olympics.
With high voltage matches scheduled every evening in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, fans are thronging clubs, pubs and screening venues to catch the action. And sometimes they fall in love while experiencing sports.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)