The 2026 World Cup has arrived.
The record 104-match tournament kicks off Thursday with two games in Mexico. The opening match features Mexico and South Africa at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, followed by South Korea and Czechia in Guadalajara.
The other two host nations, Canada and the U.S., will play their opening matches Friday. Canada will play Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto, and the U.S. will face Paraguay in Los Angeles, marking the tournament’s return to the country since it was last held here in 1994.
The first few weeks of the tournament are going to look and feel different from previous World Cups because the field expanded from 32 teams to a record 48. The change means more teams in the tournament, but it also will likely result in fewer games of consequence early on.
Four teams are making their World Cup debuts: Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan. Others are back in the World Cup after a long hiatus: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti return for the first time since 1974; Iraq for the first time since 1986; Austria, Scotland, and Norway for the first time since 1998; and Turkey for the first time since 2002.
