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TechRadar
TechRadar
Rahim Amir

The 2026 World Cup didn't just cause global celebrations when Argentina lost — it might also have altered global web traffic and online behavior around the world

World Cup Cloudflare Argentina the 2026 World Cup
The World Cup football 2026.
  • Cloudflare finds kick-off time, not match importance, drove the biggest World Cup traffic swings
  • Overnight matches more than doubled normal traffic in some countries, while daytime fixtures barely registered
  • The tournament's biggest internet moment ironically wasn't the final but Argentina's 3-1 quarter-final win over Switzerland, which moved global traffic by a factor of 1.26x.

Although Spain's 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina closed out the FIFA 2026 World Cup, the tournament's biggest traffic pulls actually came days before.

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