The 23rd edition of the world’s biggest single-sport tournament, the FIFA World Cup, kicks off today in Estadio Banorte, Mexico City, capital of Mexico — one of the three host nations — with Mexico’s El Tri facing one of Africa’s 10 representatives, South Africa. It’s a World Cup with many new features.
Mexico have made history before even kicking a ball at this summer’s eagerly-anticipated tournament, as they are the first nation to host the men’s FIFA World Cup three times, adding 2026 to their legendary standalone editions in 1970 and 1986.
2026 is the first time the tournament will parade 48 teams, up from 32 in the last edition four years ago in Qatar. By the time the final match is played on 19 July at the MetLife Stadium in New York City, the most expensive stadium built in the United States of America at the time of its completion, 104 games will have been on show in 16 cities across North America. Up till 2022, the competition had 64 matches.
The third host nation, Canada, will showcase its offering beginning with the opening Group B game between the Reds and Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday.
The 48 teams are paired into 12 groups, as opposed to the previous eight. The top two winners in each group and the eight best third-place teams advance to a new Round of 32.
Most matches will be in the United States, including all from quarter-finals onward. Unlike Qatar 2022’s compact setup, teams and fans will cross multiple time zones and thousands of kilometres.
The world will behold the most technologically advanced smart ball: Adidas Trionda with IMU sensor tracks speed, spin, 3D position 500 times/second. It feeds VAR real-time data for goal-line, out-of-play, and last-touch calls. Its features include advanced semi-automated offside, with alerts going straight to an assistant referee rather than to the video booth first. It uses 16 cameras per stadium, generating 172M data points per match. Alert threshold tightened to 10cm.
Through the Digital Twins, every player gets a one-second full-body scan pre-tournament and creates 3D avatars used for offside interference calls and broadcast graphics. The facility’s AI support, “Football AI Pro”, analyses hundreds of millions of data points for pre/post-match tactics.
There’s no doubt that Mexico enters the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the most experienced nation in Group A. Making their 18th FIFA World Cup appearance and ninth consecutive trip to the tournament, not only allows the team to further cement their status as one that prides itself on being a consistent contender, but it’s also a team that resonates favourably with collectors.
On the offensive side of the ball, there is veteran striker Ral Jimnez (Mexico’s third all-time leading scorer with 44 international goals), who is subsequently complemented on the defensive side by defensive mastermind and captain Edson lvarez, who offers versatility as both a holding midfielder and a centre back that can lead from anywhere on the pitch.
preparing to lead El Tri into his third FIFA World Cup across three separate stints at the helm. Appointed in 2024, 67-year-old head coach Javier Aguirre inherited a side desperate to make amends for their dismal Qatar 2022 campaign, in which they failed to reach the knockout rounds for the first time since 1978.
Ranked 14th in the world by FIFA, Mexico bypassed the rigours of CONCACAF qualification as co-hosts. Following their CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup triumphs — winning the latter in July last year — they suffered a post-silverware hangover, failing to win any of their final six friendly matches of 2025 (D4 L2).
However, Mexico’s form has improved this year, holding European powerhouses Portugal and Belgium to respectable draws, before putting together a three-match winning streak against Ghana, Australia and Serbia, thrashing the latter 5-1 in Toluca last Friday.
Unbeaten across their last seven opening games at the FIFA World Cup dating back to 1994 (W5 D2), Mexico are set to be roared on by a sell-out 83,000 capacity crowd on Thursday. A victory against South Africa will significantly boost their chances of securing top spot in Group A, before they turn their attention to subsequent fixtures against South Korea and Czech Republic.
South Africa’s Bafana Bafana possess a strong sense of optimism, largely due to the on-field play of defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi. The Chicago Fire FC centre back has quickly become an MLS fan favourite while also serving as one of the league’s top young defenders.
It’s South Africa’s fourth FIFA World Cup appearance, marking their return to the prestigious tournament for the first time since hosting the event 16 years ago.
Bafana Bafana punched their ticket to this summer’s global spectacle following a dramatic conclusion to CAF qualifying. Their 3-0 final-round victory over Rwanda, coupled with Nigeria’s thrashing of group leaders Benin 4-0, helped them to secure top spot with 18 points from 10 matches (W5 D3 L2), despite being docked three points for fielding an ineligible player in their home win over Lesotho.
Managed by Belgian boss Hugo Broos since 2021, South Africa enter the tournament as the 11th-highest-ranked African nation and 60th overall in the FIFA rankings, with the best World Cup betting sites pricing Bafana Bafana as outsiders to advance from Group A.
Since reaching the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations at the beginning of the year, they have endured a four-match winless run in friendly fixtures.
South Africa recorded a draw and a loss against Panama during March’s international break, before being held to a goalless stalemate by Nicaragua at the end of May.
Many online apps then credited Broos’s side with a 1-0 win over Jamaica last Saturday, but it was confirmed eight hours after the behind-closed-doors fixture that the spoils had actually been shared in a 1-1 draw.
Broos admitted after the match that his team’s performance fell short of expectations and promised a deep analysis of “what was really wrong”. On Thursday, South Africa will be chasing their first win over Mexico since a 2-1 success at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in July 2005.
Matchday 1 fixtures
(West Africa Time)
Thursday 11 June
Group A: Mexico v South Africa (8 pm)
Friday 12 June
Group A: South Korea v Czech Republic (3 am)
Group B: Canada v Bosnia & Herzegovina (8 pm)
Saturday 13 June
Group D: USA v Paraguay (2 am)
Group B: Qatar v Switzerland (8 pm)
Group C: Brazil v Morocco (11 pm)
Sunday 14 June
Group C: Haiti v Scotland (2 am)
Group D: Australia v Turkey (5 am)
Group E: Germany v Curaçao (6 pm)
Group F: Netherlands v Japan (9 pm)
Monday 15 June
Group E: Côte d’Ivoire v Ecuador (Midnight)
Group F: Sweden v Tunisia (3 pm)
Group H: Spain v Cape Verde (5 pm), Saudi Arabia v Uruguay (11 pm)
Group G: Belgium v Egypt (8 pm)
Tuesday 16 June
Group G: Iran v New Zealand (2 am)
Group I: France v Senegal (8 pm), Iran v Norway (11 pm)
Wednesday 17 June
Group J: Argentina v Algeria (2 am), Austria v Jordan (5 am)
Group K: Portugal v DR Congo (6 pm)
Group L: England v Croatia (9 pm)
Thursday 18 June
Group L: Ghana v Panama (Midnight)
Group K: Uzbekistan v Colombia (3 am)
