2026 World Cup: gift tips and fun ideas to help your team through the football summer

The 2026 World Cup will be played in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. For everyone in the Netherlands, that means matches in the late evening and deep into the night. Your team (not the Dutch national team, but your employees) is going to watch. You know it. Whether it is the Netherlands, Belgium, Morocco, or another country they are rooting for - the TV will be turned on at 2:00 AM over the coming weeks more often than anyone would like.

As an employer or team lead, you can do two things about it. Act as if it isn't happening and hope that productivity doesn't collapse. Or embrace it, make something fun out of it, and give your team a gift that helps them survive the football summer. We are going for option two.

Below are fifteen gift tips, organized around how a World Cup day will look in the Netherlands: from the preparations in the afternoon to the damage control the morning after.

The preparation - from drinks to BBQ

The match doesn't start until late, but the evening before gets going early. The barbecue is fired up, the first drinks are opened, and someone has set up a World Cup pool where everyone must quickly enter a prediction. This is the social part - and if the kickoff times allow, this is also the moment to organize it at the office. Bring in a screen, put a barbecue in the parking lot, and gather the team around. Great for the atmosphere, great for team spirit. Perhaps not recommended for matches starting at 01:00 AM, but occasionally matches also start around 8:00 PM. But anyway, first the gifts.

1. A voucher for special beer

The Biercheque is a gift card that you can redeem at participating beer locations across the Netherlands - breweries, specialty stores, and catering establishments. More than 130 redemption points. The recipient chooses exactly where, when, and which beer. Available in values from €20 to €100.

Why this works for the World Cup: watching matches for six weeks means drinking together for six weeks. With a Biercheque, your team discovers local breweries nearby instead of the standard lager from the supermarket. Give it as a team gift at the kickoff of the tournament and let everyone choose for themselves. You can order the Biercheque for multiple colleagues at once through Cadeo.

1. Alcohol-free is just as delicious nowadays

Not everyone drinks alcohol. And drinking only cola or sparkling water for six weeks while the rest order beer is not ideal either. The Gingor Elixir is an organic, alcohol-free ginger drink with a serious kick. Drink it neat, mix it with sparkling water, or use it as a base for a mocktail - it is a gift that serves the non-beer drinkers in your team just as well. Made from pure ginger and lemon, warming and refreshing at the same time.

Combine it with the Biercheque and you have something for everyone in the team.

1. Take BBQing to the next level

Three jars of Zeeland sea salt specially blended for the barbecue: pure, smoked, and black garlic. Zeeuwsche Zoute harvests sea salt from the Eastern Scheldt - local, artisanal, and it takes meat, fish, and vegetables a step further than standard salt and pepper. Small gift, but the difference between a good and an excellent BBQ is in the seasoning.

1. Beautiful drinks deserve beautiful glasses

So give, for example, these four glasses made from recycled wine bottles. Rebottled gives old bottles a new lease on life - each glass is unique in color and shape. More stylish than plastic cups, more sustainable, and a great conversation starter while waiting for kickoff. Put them next to the Biercheque and you have a complete beer gift.

1. Keep track of it!

A nice (erasable) notebook from Happinote. Why is this a World Cup gift? Because every office has a World Cup pool. And every World Cup pool has someone who keeps track of the standings, notes down results, and calculates point totals in a notebook instead of just in an app. Give this to that one colleague who is always crazy about making predictions. The Happinote notebooks are erasable, so they will still be useful even after the World Cup.

The match - the Netherlands is playing

It is midnight. Or later. You are sitting on the couch, in the pub, or at that one colleague's house who has the biggest TV. The Netherlands is playing and the tension is palpable. The snacks are almost gone and your phone is running out of battery. These are the gifts for that exact moment.

1. Artisanal liquorice

A package of artisanal liquorice from Baarn: fresh pulled liquorice, liquorice fudge, salmiac truffles, bay leaf liquorice sticks, and liquorice tea. Mooie D.R.O.P. is made by young people with a distance to the labor market - a social enterprise where tradition and craftsmanship come together. Perfect to bring along to a viewing night. Everyone grabs some, nobody has to bake anything, and before you know it, the box is empty before half-time.

1. Snack time!

A compact air fryer from the Belgian brand Fritel. Bitterballen, chicken nuggets, fries - everything you need at two in the morning, ready in just a few minutes without having to set up a deep fat fryer. Compact enough for a small kitchen counter and easy to clean. Something that will last the whole tournament (and beyond). Also fun to purchase for the office - it makes the Friday afternoon drinks even better!

1. Phone empty? No problem!

A power bank that charges two devices at once via a dual USB port. Compact, lightweight, and with a rubber coating so it doesn’t slip off the bar table. This is indispensable especially for those watching the match in the pub - running the group chat, the livestream, and the betting app at the same time drains your battery in one evening. Also handy if your phone is your alarm clock for the next morning.

The morning after - damage control

The alarm goes off. You've slept six hours at most, but you look like you've had three - and that's how it feels too. But still, you do have a meeting at nine o'clock. This is the part of the World Cup that nobody talks about, but where your team needs the most help.

1. Get your face looking fresh again

A set of two facial products: the Erborian CC Red Correct (with SPF 25) and the LOOkX Calm+ Redness Reset Drops. The CC cream evens out the complexion and neutralizes redness instantly. The drops target irritation with azelaic acid and calming ingredients. Non-toxic and cruelty-free. It might not sound like a typical World Cup gift, but with a serious lack of sleep, this is exactly what you need to look somewhat human on Monday morning.

1. Coffee and tea to the rescue

A compact French press made from recycled materials, serving two cups of coffee. BergHOFF is a Belgian brand, the press has a cool-touch handle and is dishwasher safe. Perfect size to place on your desk. During the World Cup, this is not a luxury item - it is standard equipment. Your team is going to drink more coffee than usual. So let's make sure the coffee actually tastes good!

But not everyone is a coffee drinker. Wilder Land makes herbal tea from plants grown in the Netherlands - great for biodiversity, short transport routes, and delicious tea. The tasting pack contains five flavors: taste, compare, and discover which blend you like best. Locally made and a relaxing counterweight to all that coffee.

1. Keep taking in vitamins and supplements

This shaker bottle from BERGHOFF is made from recycled materials. For the colleague who, after a short night, would rather make a green smoothie or protein shake than another cup of coffee. Wide opening, leak-proof lid, easy to clean. Take it to the office and start the day with something that actually helps your body.

1. M2s Mini Massage Gun - VirtuFit (€50.00)

A compact massage gun with 30 speed levels. Helps with muscle tension in your neck, shoulders, and lower back - exactly the spots that get stiff when you have slumped on the couch in an impossible position until three in the morning. Compact enough to take to the office. It's also an excellent conversation starter at the coffee machine.

Employer tips - make the most of it

A gift is nice, but the way you as an employer handle the World Cup makes more of a difference than any gift could. A few suggestions.

Let people sleep in after a late match. If a match lasts until two in the morning and you expect everyone to be sharp again by half past eight, you are underestimating the impact. Offer the option to start an hour later the next morning. It costs you an hour of productivity. It gains you goodwill that lasts for months. Of course, this isn't always possible and doesn't work for every workplace, but if you can make room for it, do so!

Set up a screen. If there is a match during working hours - and with a tournament in the US, that can sometimes happen - consider putting a screen in the canteen or a meeting room. People are going to watch on their phones anyway. You might as well make it a shared moment.

Organize a World Cup pool. Costs nothing, takes five minutes to set up, and gives your team something to talk about for six weeks. Bonus: it increases the likelihood that people will also watch matches they wouldn't normally watch, which makes office chats even more fun and creates a genuine sense of togetherness in your team.

Give a gift at the kickoff. The first match day is the perfect moment. Give everyone a Biercheque, a travel mug, or another small gift and say: "The coming weeks, everyone will be caught up in the World Cup, let's get through it together." The gesture matters more than the amount. With Cadeo, you can also let everyone choose something for themselves, for example, from the products in this article.

All products in this article are available via Cadeo. You choose a gift or a collection, personalize the message, and the recipient receives a link to accept the gift or discretely exchange it for something else.

Choice gifts are available from €15, are sent within 24 hours, and the gift is delivered to their home, without you needing any addresses - the recipients enter those themselves! No minimum order quantity, no long-term contract. 95% of recipients actually make a choice.

Want to surprise your team for the first World Cup match? Schedule an introduction - we'd love to help you brainstorm.