FIFA 2026 World Cup opening ceremony: Date, time, location and event plans as Mexico play host

Football is gradually gearing up for the biggest single-sport event ever staged, the 2026 World Cup.

Spread across 16 North American venues, 48 teams will begin their quest towards football’s holy grail, hoping to be in the final on 19 July.

But before all that, Mexico and South Africa will get the tournament underway on 11 June at the historic Estadio Azteca, where the opening ceremony will be held.

What will be at the opening ceremony?

For much of it, we don’t know!

Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger are likely to perform the official World Cup song, ‘Desire’, which they debuted at the draw conducted in December.

Each city also has a unique remix of FIFA’s generic ‘FIFA World Cup 26 theme song’ that was released in 2023, with Mexico City’s made by the Mexican Institute of Sound.

Tournament mascots Maple the Moose, Zayu the Jaguar, and Clutch the Bald Eagle are likely to make an appearance too, along with the competition’s ball, the Trionda

Last time the US hosted the World Cup, Diana Ross skewed her penalty wide as part of the opening ceremony. Perhaps we will see Salma Hayek do the same!

Where will the 2026 World Cup opening ceremony take place?

Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, the country’s biggest football stadium, will host the ceremony and has a capacity of 83,000.

The Azteca will become the first venue to host three separate World Cups, as it was the 1970 and 1986 final venue.

It is the only venue being reused from those tournaments, and Mexico City is the only one of the three host country capital cities hosting a match in 2026, with Washington and Ottawa overlooked.

Where can I watch 2026 World Cup opening ceremony?

If you don’t fancy braving the long-haul flights and excruciating ticket prices to watch the opening ceremony in real life, then tune in to ITV.

The BBC and ITV have split coverage once again, but it was ITV who scooped the rights to the first match, between Mexico and South Africa.

Timings are still yet to be established, but it is likely that the event will begin two or three hours before kick-off.

And what about the match?

Indeed, there is a football match to be had after the opening ceremony.

Hosts Mexico broke their curse of exiting at the last 16 for six successive tournaments, by being eliminated in the group stage in Qatar, and unfortunately are largely unfavoured by their fans back at home.

South Africa qualified ahead of African behemoths Nigeria, and despite their squad mostly consisting of domestic players, they are a deceptively difficult team to break down.

The other two teams in the group are South Korea and either Denmark or Czechia.

It is arguably the most open group of all.