Rico’s 2026 world cup

Word Count: ~76,000

Sports Fiction / Psychological Drama / LGBTQ+ Contemporary / Masculinity / Mental-Health /  

Re-live the future 2026 world cup sports fantasy and immerse yourself in the hectic genius that is Captain Rico and his USA world cup squad.

A retrospective “fly-on-the-wall” documentary style narrative focusing on Captain Rico and the USA World Cup squad and blends sports drama with introspective mental health exploration, identity politics, and team dynamics.

Central themes:

The Hero’s Journey: From reluctant engagement to personal and collective triumph, a diverse group of players confronting personal demons and building trust from team-mates.

Inclusion: challenging toxic masculinity, racial stereotypes, and nurturing LGBTQ+ acceptance as key characters undergo personal transformations by learning to accept one another.

Egos dramatically clash over team-selection, politics, and ambition, as they walk the tightrope of success under the glare of subscribers, detractors and dogmatic biases.  The further individuals wish to go in this heavily-masculine environment, the more they have to truly accept the outsiders of the group and recognise their value as contributors.

A day-by-day account of Captain Rico, his vice-captain Macarthy, and those personal journeys recorded in the diary room provoke heated reactions on-line, mulled over on the evening show, as daily events become late-night show talking-points. Players with the greatest opinions have the most to learn, but all soon realise they have to work together to achieve an unlikely miracle.

Even though every step of the competition is a slip from disaster, Rico seems detached, players appear out of their depth against greater teams, events in the house cause great controversy outside the house, yet, against all odds, the team is ultimately successful, because players learn to trust and accept one another.

 

This book is an imaginative journey in to mental-health, struggles with identity, coping with self-loathing, self-sabotage, procrastination, and acceptance who we are before we can evolve to our best version.

The final chapter is the great reveal; events are all just in the mind of fantasist serving a cantharus customer in a hardware store, adding a layer of metafictions to a worthy read.

The format & tone are visible though diary room confessions, evening show debriefs, and social media reactions or forum chats, that create a multi-layered narrative. The commentary has just the right amount of jargon, yet keeps descriptions simple to maintain interest in the greater picture.

Anyone who played football, or just fantasised about being part of a sporting team’s success, can empathise with players through a combination of dry humour, emotional depth and realistic dialogue with regional accents and player lingo to reflect authenticity.

An even spread of dialogue and monologue regional accents and player lingo is distinguishable, while race is revealed though the other players to keep minds open to the character and coarse language is moderated with a strategically placed * to widen appeal.

Four examples of the 32 characters are Captain Rico, who uses a detachment mask, is full of inner complexity, yet is the binding force to players growing in self-belief. Vice-captain Macarthy, deeply protective of Rico, lacks ambition, yet central to team dynamics. Wayne, openly gay -only in the diary room- is highly political and marginalised until Rico offers an unexpected opportunity to become pivotal. Ngono – Antagonist-turned-ally, grappling with his own identity and transformation as he comes to accept both Wayne and his own secret hidden sexuality as the two become romantically involved. Romances aren’t gratuitous, while the over-bearing ‘house rules’ Rico devises, insures a safe environment.

Books with similar themes are January Window by Philip Kerr, The Thistle and the Grail by Robin Jenkins, or for whom the ball rolls by Ian Plenderleith, and the struggle with success within the beautiful game, with loneliness, mental-health, inclusion at the heart of the protagonist’s journey.

This will be a big event in 2026 and there will be a great opportunity to connect to the topical; build up of the greatest sporting event the USA has seen for many years and this is the ideal time with the right market for Rico’s 2026 world cup.