A World Cup game with a charitable twist

I have a confession to make. I found this game at around 10pm on Monday night four days before the tournament starts, when I should probably have been winding down for bed, and instead I spent the next half hour reading the rules, checking the deadline, and figuring out how to set up a game for Charisma.

That's how good an idea it is.

It's called Football Pontoon, and if you haven't come across it before, the concept is wonderfully simple. You pick 4 teams from the 2026 World Cup. As the tournament progresses, their goals add up. Whoever gets closest to 21 without going over wins. It's essentially blackjack, but with football teams, fewer chips, and significantly less pressure.

The beauty of it is that you genuinely don't need to know anything about football to play. There's no form guide to study, no fixture list to memorise, no obligation to have a strong opinion on whether England will implode in the quarter-finals or the round of 16. You just pick four teams, cross your fingers, and watch the goals roll in. Or not, as the case may be.

I've always loved the World Cup for exactly this reason. It's one of those rare sporting events that pulls people in who wouldn't normally give football a second glance. Colleagues who've never watched a match suddenly have strong views on penalty shootouts. Family group chats spring back to life. People who can't name a single player somehow end up with the most informed tournament predictions. There's something about it that just brings people together, and I think Football Pontoon taps into that spirit perfectly.

So when I stumbled across it, the first thought I had was: let's get as many involved as we can!

Here's how it works

I've set up a game through Charisma Charity Recruitment. Anyone can join, for free, no account required. You just pick your four teams and add your name to the leaderboard.

Whoever wins gets to choose a charity to receive a £200 donation from us here at Charisma. 

That felt like the right way to do it. The World Cup is a global event watched by billions of people, many of whom are beneficiaries of the kind of organisations we work with every day. Charities working in development, health, education, humanitarian response. It seemed fitting to mark the tournament with something that gives back, even in a small way.

Why this matters to us

Charisma works exclusively with charities and third sector organisations. We help them find the people who lead them, fundraise for them, run their programmes and communicate their mission. We've been doing this for a long time, and the organisations we work with matter enormously to us.

One of the things I love most about this sector is that the people in it care deeply, not just about their own organisation, but about the broader good. They'd almost all struggle to pick just one charity if they won, because they know too many brilliant ones. That's a good problem to have.

So if you win, take your time. Pick something that means something to you. That's the whole point.

How to join

It couldn't be simpler.

Join here: https://footballpontoon.co.uk/join?code=CMZKRN

Deadline: Thursday 11 June 2026, 19:55 BST

No account needed. No football expertise required. Just a name on the leaderboard and four teams that you're quietly convinced are going to score a lot of goals.

A few tips, for what they're worth

I am not a football analyst. I coach under-10s, which gives me a reasonable grasp of positional play at that level but probably not much else. So take this for what it is.

Picking four attacking teams is the obvious strategy, but the risk is they outscore you and tip you over 21 early in the tournament. Picking one or two reliable goal-scorers and balancing them with a slightly more defensive side might give you more control as it goes on. Or just pick the teams with the nicest kits and hope for the best. That approach has served me reasonably well in life generally.

Come and join us

The more people who get involved, the more fun it is. Share it with your colleagues, your team, your network. Tag someone who picks the wrong four teams every single tournament and is still convinced they have a system.

And whoever wins, at least a charity somewhere gets something good out of it.

That feels like a decent return on a Tuesday morning.