Pele wore one at the World Cup of 1970. Diego Maradona did the same in 1986. Mexico fans threw tens of thousands onto the Estadio Azteca turf before last week’s opening game of the 2026 edition.Whenever the World Cup comes around, sombreros inevitably make an appearance if Mexico are involved. They have been even more visible this summer, with football’s greatest tournament returning to the country after a 40-year absence.Japan were handed cream sombreros from the north of Mexico when they touched down for their pre-World Cup training camp in Monterrey earlier this month. The South Korean national team arrived in Guadalajara to the strains of a mariachi band and were also given the traditional wide-brimmed hats. Sweden players celebrated with one in the dressing room after winning their first match against Tunisia 5-1.Why are there so many sombreros at the World Cup?Tomás Hill López-Menchero and moreBut the most high-profile moment came in the tournament’s opener between Mexico and South Africa, when the more than 80,000 fans in attendance were given cardboard sombreros, and many were gleefully launched towards the pitch in the build-up to kick-off.“It was iconic,” says Luisa Ferne, an artisanal maker of sombreros based in Monterrey, north-east Mexico. “It gives me goosebumps to see that image again — everyone celebrating with their sombrero, their beer or their tequila, shouting and celebrating with such joy.”Pele and Maradona’s sombrero moments were iconic, too. After the Brazilian lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy for the third time at the Azteca in 1970, he was pictured wearing a sombrero as fans held him aloft on the pitch.