Head of School Professor Oliver Johnson discusses the 2026 Men’s World Cup on the BBC

Head of School Professor Oliver Johnson appeared on the BBC this week (Wednesday 24 June) to explain the mysterious mathematical workings of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup.

Oliver’s feature on the BBC Radio Four programme More or Less expanded on his article in the statistical publication Significance Magazine. ‘Making sense of the World Cup 2026 draw’ looks at the ‘parallel World Cup of nerdiness…as people pore over the permutations and combinations which make up the “ranking of third place teams” outcomes’

Oliver features from 14’ 35” on BBC Sounds More or Less podcast and his article can be read on the Significance Magazine website