| Dear Fellow Genealogist,
Millions of people around the world will tune in today for the first games of men’s World Cup. The tournament, hosted over the next several weeks across the United States, Canada and Mexico, offers lessons for family historians, even those who aren’t soccer fans.
For one thing, it’s global—like many of our family trees. For another, each country is represented by a team made up of members playing their own roles. At RootsTech 2026’s opening session, CEO Steve Rockwood compared the genealogy community itself to a soccer team:
Archivists and historians protect memories like goalkeepers and defenders.
Record-creators (census workers, county clerks, photographers) and -digitizers connect past events to the present.
And we genealogists and storytellers take what’s been done “down the field” like strikers to achieve goals.
Below, I’ve created a World Cup cheat sheet for genealogists wanting to root on the United States—or the country their ancestors lived in. We’ve also included tips for writing family stories (“shooting your shot,” if you will) and using Newspapers.com.
Believing that (together) we will win,
— Andrew, Editor of Family Tree Magazine
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