2026 FIFA World Cup — Mexico and South Africa to officially open the tournament on Thursday
Kyiv • UNN
The 2026 World Cup kicks off with a match between Mexico and South Africa and a grand show featuring Shakira. For the first time, the tournament hosted by three countries will bring together 48 national teams and will feature a round of 32 stage.
On Thursday, June 11, the 2026 World Cup officially kicks off in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. As part of the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the national teams of Mexico and South Africa will meet in Mexico City at the "Estadio Banorte" stadium, UNN reports.
Opening Match
The clash between Mexico and South Africa will begin at 22:00 at the "Estadio Banorte" stadium (also known as the "Azteca" stadium).
Estadio Banorte in Mexico City
However, even before the start of the match, fans can expect a grand show that will begin 90 minutes before the opening whistle — at 20:30 Kyiv time.
The headliner of the ceremony will be Colombian pop diva Shakira, who, together with the famous Nigerian artist Burna Boy, will perform "Dai Dai" live — the official song of this year's World Cup.
Popular Latin American and global artists will join the performance: Colombian J Balvin, South African singer Tyla, as well as Mexican stars — Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Lila Downs, and the bands Maná and Los Angeles Azules.
The visual and artistic part of the show is the responsibility of the famous Italian producer Marco Balich. The ceremony in Mexico City will be full of Mexican traditions; in particular, the audience will see elements of the national paper art papel picado.
Interestingly, the opening match of the 2010 World Cup, which took place in South Africa, also featured these two national teams.
Back then, the match ended in a 1-1 draw. In the 55th minute, South African winger Siphiwe Tshabalala scored the first goal of the World Cup, and Rafael Márquez equalized for his team.
It should be noted that on June 12 at 22:00, the Canadian national team will meet the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on June 13 at 4:00, the US national team will face the national team of Paraguay.
Therefore, on June 12, legendary Canadian rock performer Bryan Adams and pop singer Michael Bublé will perform at the "Toronto Stadium." The official national anthem of Canada will be performed live before the game by iconic rock singer Alanis Morissette, while the anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be presented by Aleksandar Gajić. Wyclef Jean, Nora Fatehi, and Vegedream are also involved in the Canadian part of the celebrations.
On June 13, at the "Los Angeles Stadium," the main headliner will be Katy Perry. Joining her to fire up the crowd will be rapper Future, Brazilian superstar Anitta, Nigerian hitmaker Rema, and South African singer Tyla, who will thus perform at the openings in both Mexico and the USA.
What is known about the World Cup
The 23rd FIFA World Cup will take place next year from June 11 to July 19, for the first time simultaneously in three countries: Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
In June 2018, at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, these countries received the highest number of votes during the selection of the tournament host.
Interestingly, Canada will host the premier football tournament for the first time in history; for the first time, the championship will be held in 3 countries at once; Mexico became the first country in history to host the World Cup for the third time.
The World Cup will take place in 16 stadiums: 11 in the USA, 3 in Mexico, and 2 in Canada.
The only stadium that has previously hosted World Cup matches is the aforementioned "Azteca" in Mexico City, which hosted matches of the 1970 and 1986 World Cups.
The final match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place in New Jersey at the MetLife Stadium.
MetLife Stadium has a capacity of 82,500 spectators and is traditionally used for NFL (American football) matches; it hosted a soccer match for the first time in May 2010.
MetLife is the home arena for the New York Giants and the New York Jets.
MetLife, where the World Cup final will take place
For the first time, 48 teams will participate in the World Cup instead of 32. Also, for the first time in World Cup history, there will be a round of 32 stage.
The competition will be held in a format of 12 groups of 4 teams. Two teams from each group and the 8 best third-placed teams will advance to the playoffs. On average, 6 matches will be played every day.
In September 2025, FIFA presented the official mascots of the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. The tournament mascots will be Maple the moose, Zayu the jaguar, and Clutch the bald eagle, symbolizing the three host countries of the tournament.
Where and when to watch the matches in Ukraine
The official broadcasting rights for all 104 matches of the 2026 World Cup in Ukraine belong to the MEGOGO media service. Some of the matches will be broadcast for free on the "MEGOGO Sport" TV channel, which is available on T2 digital terrestrial and cable networks. The channel will show one selected match of each matchday throughout the entire World Cup, including the opening match, two quarterfinals, both semifinals, the 3rd place match, and the final.
Interesting facts
The Brazil national team is the only team to have won the tournament 5 times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). The Brazilians are also the only national team to have participated in every single final stage of the World Cup.
Cafu with the 2002 World Cup trophy
Brazil's closest pursuer is Germany, which has won the trophy 4 times. At the same time, Germany has reached the World Cup final 8 times and lost four times.
The German national team celebrates victory at the 2014 World Cup
Brazil forward Pelé is the only player in history to have won three World Cups. At the same time, in 1962 he played in only two matches and received a medal for that tournament only in 2007. He also holds the record for the youngest goalscorer in World Cup history. When Pelé scored against Wales at the 1958 World Cup, he was only 17 years, seven months, and 27 days old.
Pelé with three World Cup trophies
The highest number of goals in World Cup final stages was scored by German striker Miroslav Klose. The top scorer in World Cup history scored 16 goals: five at the 2002 World Cup, five at the 2006 World Cup, four at the 2010 World Cup, and two more at the 2014 World Cup.
Miroslav Klose scores his 16th World Cup goal, starting the rout of Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semi-final (7-1)
However, Klose's achievement could soon be broken by Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé, who already has 12 goals to his credit.
Kylian Mbappé at age 20 celebrates the French national team's victory in the 2018 World Cup final against Croatia
World Cup Favorite
Bookmakers have already identified the main favorites for the upcoming championship.
The odds for the victory of the reigning European champions are 5.50. Next on the list of favorites are France (6.50), England (7.00), Argentina (9.00), and Brazil (9.00).
The extended circle of contenders also includes Germany and Portugal (13 each), as well as the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium.
The company Opta Analyst traditionally calculated the teams' chances using its supercomputer before the start of the major football tournament.
Thus, the Opta supercomputer chose the Spanish national team with a 16% chance of winning. "La Furia Roja" has an absolute chance of reaching the round of 32.
The analysts themselves point out that none of the 48 teams reached sky-high percentages. Closest to the potential winners are France, with a 13% chance of winning, and England, with 10.8%.
In addition, the supercomputer believes that the World Cup debutant — the Curaçao national team, which conquered the internet with a video of arriving at the World Cup on a windowless school bus — has a 0% chance of winning the World Cup and only a 1.1% chance of advancing from the group.
The national teams of Haiti, Jordan, and Cape Verde have almost the same indicators.
However, the famous German mathematician Joachim Klement has a different opinion, stating that the Netherlands national team will win the World Cup this year. He created a model for calculating the potential winner of the most important trophy in football history, which includes many factors. For example, Klement created a special formula that depends on the country's GDP, population size, the team's position in the FIFA rankings, and an element of chance.
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According to his forecast, the "Oranje" will reach the final after defeating Spain in the semi-final. The opponent for the Dutch in the decisive match should be Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo's team, as the mathematician believes, will overcome England at the semi-final stage and reach the world championship final. However, it is there that the Portuguese will lose to the Netherlands, and the legendary striker will never win the coveted World Cup title.
Other forecasts look no less unexpected. In particular, Klement believes that Brazil will end its performance as early as the round of 16. In his opinion, the five-time world champions will be sensationally stopped by the Japanese national team.
However, one should not be skeptical of Klement's predictions, as he previously calculated the winners of the previous three World Cups.
Joachim Klement
Scandals related to the World Cup
This year was not without scandals — from sky-high ticket prices for matches to visa cancellations.
FIFA faced lawsuits from European and American fan organizations. The organizers are accused of monopoly and artificial price inflation. Instead of the promised cheap tickets for 21 dollars, the real cost of passes to matches through the "flexible pricing" system soared several times over, and scalpers listed tickets for the final for thousands of dollars.
For example, FIFA tripled the price of the best tickets for the World Cup final, making seats available on Thursday at a price of $32,970 for the July 19 match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA.
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In addition, due to the strict migration policy of the US administration, problems arose with the admission of fans and even teams. For example, the Iranian national team could not obtain US visas for a long time and was forced to move its training camp to Mexico because US authorities did not allow the team to stay overnight in the country.
Iraq national team striker Aymen Hussein was interrogated for almost 7 hours after arriving in the USA. Members of the Senegal national team staff were subjected to lengthy checks and forced to remove their shoes, leading to accusations of racism.
The Uzbekistan national team was checked using dogs trained to search for explosives.
Many fans who had already purchased tickets and booked hotels were denied visas, causing them to lose significant amounts of money.
Another high-profile scandal was the entry ban for Africa's best referee of 2025, Omar Artan from Somalia. The referee was included in the list of World Cup officials.
I am very, very disappointed. I am just a referee trying to fulfill my dream, the biggest dream of my life — to go to the World Cup. I had all the necessary documents, etc. I had the right visa. I think they have problems with my country,
According to him, before he was denied entry to the USA, he was interrogated for 11 hours.
US Customs and Border Protection stated that "after inspection, the traveler, a World Cup referee, was found ineligible for entry due to vetting issues."