The 2026 FIFA World Cup opened Thursday in Mexico City with a star-studded ceremony celebrating Mexican and Latin American culture, launching the first World Cup to be jointly hosted by three countries and the largest edition in the tournament’s history.
Held at Mexico City Stadium, formerly known as the Estadio Azteca, the ceremony began 90 minutes before the opening match between Mexico and South Africa. It marked the first of three separate opening celebrations planned across Mexico, Canada and the United States, reflecting the tournament’s unprecedented scale and tri-national hosting format.
The event featured performances by Colombian singer J Balvin, Mexican rock band Maná, Shakira, Burna Boy, Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, Lila Downs and Los Ángeles Azules. Shakira and Burna Boy performed the tournament’s official anthem, “Dai Dai,” while Fernández sang the Mexican national anthem and South African artist Tyla performed South Africa’s anthem. Mexican actress Salma Hayek appeared on the pitch as an official World Cup ambassador.
Organizers framed the show as a celebration of association football’s global reach and of the cultural diversity of the three host nations. Mexico’s ceremony emphasized indigenous traditions, music and contemporary Latin American culture, while ceremonies in Toronto and Los Angeles are scheduled to precede the opening matches involving Canada and the United States.
The tournament is the first World Cup to feature 48 teams, up from 32, and will include 104 matches across 16 host cities in Mexico, the United States and Canada before concluding with the final on July 19. Mexico City became the first stadium in history to host World Cup matches in three different tournaments, following the 1970 and 1986 editions.
The opening festivities took place amid heightened security and extensive traffic-management measures in the Mexican capital, where authorities suspended school classes and shifted many public-sector employees to remote work in an effort to ease congestion around the event.
