Kolkata: For the past one and half months, evenings had a fixed routine. Dinner was planned well ahead kick-off times, sleep schedules were abandoned, WhatsApp groups buzzed through the night and neighbourhoods echoed with cheers and groans till dawn.Then, on Sunday night, Spain’s 1-0 victory over Argentina in the FIFA World Cup final brought the curtain down on football’s biggest spectacle, leaving thousands of fans grappling with an unexpected emptiness.By Monday evening, many supporters admitted they instinctively reached for the TV remote around match time, only to remember there was no game to watch.“Since the second week of June, football dictated my evenings. I was awake all night and after a quick morning nap, would leave for work. But then again I looked forward to the nights every evening always anticipating for the next game. Now, there is nothing to look forward to,” said Arabinda Basu, a senior corporate executive and a Brazil turned Spain fan.The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the longest tournament in World Cup history, lasting 39 days. It kicked off on June 11, 2026, and concluded with the final match on July 19, 2026.For sales professional and Argentina supporter Amrit Karar, the emotional hangover has been even stronger. Having spent weeks following every move of Lionel Messi’s campaign, he said the tournament had become an integral part of his daily routine.“I barely slept through the last few weeks and watched almost all games every night. On days Argentina was playing the morning matches, even that little sleep time was gone. But by Monday morning, the reality had sunk in. For the past few weeks there was always another Argentina match to anticipate. Now there’s a huge void,” Karar said.Soumen Dutta, general manager of pharmaceutical company said for weeks, time was measured in match minutes and extra time, but now that the final whistle has sounded, the clock seems to have stopped altogether.“I have been staying and watching the matches. While I was travelling, I watched them on my mobile phone. There is a specific kind of melancholy in waking up to a world where the anticipation of the next big game no longer exists—it feels like a long-standing companion has suddenly packed their bags and left, leaving a heavy, quiet stillness in their wake,” said Dutta.Psychiatrist Jayranjan Ram said such feelings are not unusual after a sporting event that commands intense emotional investment.“The World Cup definitely changed the routine of many people in significant manner… Many of us watched the footballs with our friends, discussed it, were constantly on WhatsApp, critiquing the matches as if we were coaches of Argentina and Brazil. So this sudden stoppage, which led to a climax and perhaps an anticlimax, has caused a void because we are now slowly getting back to the usual mundane pattern of life, hoping that the next sporting spectacle would bring the next fever of excitement and enjoyment,” Ram said.For some like Suvendu Banerjee, an IT professional the feeling was similar to emotions surrounding the end of Durga Puja. “As the tournament ended, there is a huge void—it feels exactly like the day after Bijoya Dashami,“ he said.
