Why Altera's World Cup is far more exciting (Patreon)

This month, we went all in with our own World Cup series of map graphics to parallel FIFA. Altera's World Cup, titled the Meditera World Cup of 2022 is hosted by eight countries (Punice, Italy, Greece, Turcia, Sicily, Saconia, Illyria, and Galatia). You can already read some of the lore and intrigue behind it with this incomplete Wiki article that the project's syntopian poputchiks have been putting together.

I'll be posting the footnotes for this next week. In the mean time, here's a series of graphics to summarize our efforts. 

1. The road to the World Cup is a long and arduous journey, with more than a thousand national teams vying for 96 spots in the tournament. Explore this graphic here. 

2. Being top-ranked does not guarantee a spot in the championship. With the regional berth system, some of the top-ranked European teams lose out, while some of the less globally competitive teams slip through. Explore this graphic here. 

3. Organizing and coordinating the World Cup requires a logistics savvy and time-shifting mind. As Altera has three time zone systems with 7 timekeeping systems, those tokenistic local times/clocks around the world gestures require more effort. Explore the graphic here. 

4. Getting to and around the World Cup can be full of adventure! With zeppelins, clippers seaplanes, integrated highspeed rail networks, and overnight ferries, there are plenty of itinerary options. Some might plan a backpacking trip around the whole event, while others might take the lulls between the matches to see some of the local sights. Explore the graphic here. 

5. With a detailed match schedule to follow, diehard fans might attempt to follow their nation's match schedule as the games move from one venue to the next. Others might make it their goal to watch one match in every host nation and plan their journey accordingly. Explore this graphic here. 

6. The group stage opens the World Cup with a salvo of bravado. Upsets by dark horses and dramatic narratives are the norm. Explore this graphic here. 

7. The standings at the group stage level reveal some unexpected results, although most of the crowd favourites make it past to the knockout stage, even if some of them have to scrape by. Explore this graphic here.