World Cup 2026 Opens Thursday as Hosts Mexico Face South Africa at Estadio Azteca

FIFA.com · 19h ago

The 2026 FIFA World Cup gets underway on Thursday when co-host Mexico takes on South Africa in Group A at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, which becomes the first stadium to host three separate World Cup openers following 1970 and 1986. The fixture launches the first-ever 48-team World Cup and the first tournament shared by three host nations across 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Group A is rounded out by South Korea and Czechia, with the Azteca's roughly 87,500-capacity crowd expected to set the tone for the six-week tournament.