PHOENIX – In less than three months, South Africa will face Mexico in the opening game of the men’s 2026 FIFA World Cup at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City – exactly 16 years after a 1-1 draw between the teams at the 2010 edition.
In the days that follow, 46 other countries will start their journeys, playing in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico, hoping to be crowned world champions.
It’s time for the world’s biggest sporting event.
When the group stage begins, it will mark the second time the U.S. has hosted the World Cup and the third for Mexico. The latter hosted its first one in 1970 and again in 1986. Both finals resulted in victory for South American nations.
A Brazilian side, led by Pelé, took down Italy 4-1 in the 1970 final, and following a controversial victory against England, Argentina handled West Germany, winning 3-2 to capture their second ever World Cup in 1986.
Canada is hosting the men’s tournament for the first time. The country hosted the women’s World Cup in 2015, with the U.S. beating Japan 5-2 in the final behind Carli Lloyd’s hat trick in the first 16 minutes of the game.
The upcoming tournament will feature many firsts. This will be the first men’s World Cup game to be held on North American soil in 32 years, dating back to when Brazil defeated Italy 3-2 in a penalty shootout in 1994 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, for Brazil’s fourth World Cup championship.
This will also be the first tournament with more than one nation hosting since 2002, when South Korea and Japan co-hosted. Interestingly, Brazil also won that tournament, making it the most successful team in World Cup history with a total of five World Cup trophies.
With the expansion of this year’s tournament from 32 to 48 teams, multiple nations will be making their World Cup debuts. Curaçao, Cape Verde, Jordan and Uzbekistan will be competing for the first time after their historic qualifying campaigns.
“It’s super compelling when you have a country participating in its first World Cup,” said Andres Martinez, an ASU Special Advisor and professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“When Cape Verde qualified, I was speaking to a journalist and he said this wasn’t just the biggest moment in the nation’s sports history, it was the biggest moment in the nation’s history.”
A country made up of 10 volcanic islands off the coast of West Africa, Cape Verde boasts a population of just over 500,000, about the same size as the city of Atlanta. It will be the second smallest nation ever to play in the World Cup, topped only by Iceland, which had a population of 350,000 when it competed in 2018.
Known as the Tubarões Azuis or Blue Sharks in English, the national team shocked the world when it clinched automatic qualification last October, finishing first in their group ahead of Cameroon and Libya.
Apart from the first-timer stats, this World Cup will also feature the return of a few teams that have not seen the world stage in a long time.
South Africa and Paraguay, who are in groups with two of the three host nations, will be playing in their first tournament since 2010. Joining them from that edition will be New Zealand, which famously shocked then-defending champions Italy with a 1-1 draw in its last appearance.
Other teams have ended longer droughts, especially from the 1998 edition. Norway, Austria and Scotland will be making their long-awaited returns to the World Cup after twenty-eight years. Norway and Scotland were also in the same group at that tournament.
The most notable returns to the world stage, however, are Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are making their first appearances after 52 years. With both nations scarred by political instability and violence, both teams will carry the hopes of their people to the World Cup.
Due to civil unrest in the nation, Haiti was forced to play its home qualifiers in neighboring Curaçao. Needing two wins from its last two games and results from elsewhere to swing in its favor, Haiti defeated Costa Rica in the penultimate game with a lone goal and secured qualification a few days later with a 2-0 win against Nicaragua.
DR Congo finished second in their qualifying group behind Senegal, before beating Cameroon and Nigeria en route to the intercontinental playoffs. There, Les Léopards needed an extra-time goal from Axel Tuanzebe to beat Jamaica and end their five-decade wait to advance to the finals.
Finally, with the conclusion of the European playoffs, the final layout of the 48 teams in the World Cup is complete, with six more teams ending their exiles.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose last World Cup appearance was in 2014, qualified after defeating Italy after extra time on penalties. The Azzurri saw Francesco Esposito and Bryan Cristante fail to convert their spot kicks, and could only look on as their opponents put four past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The defeat means that this will be the third consecutive World Cup that the Italians miss, also falling short in both the 2018 and 2022 playoffs.
This was not the only game decided after 120 minutes, as Czechia saw off Denmark, winning 3-1 on penalty kicks and ending a 20-year wait to return.
Turkey secured its ticket in regular time, as a 53rd-minute goal from Kerem Aktürkoğlu was enough for the nation to get past Kosovo and make its first World Cup Appearance since 2002. Its team back then made it all the way to the semifinals, ending the tournament with a bronze medal.
Sweden grabbed the last of the remaining European spots in the most dramatic fashion, with Viktor Gyökeres finishing off a goalmouth scramble late in its game against Poland to send the Scandinavians to North America.
In the group stages, there will be multiple rematches across the 12 groups besides the opener between South Africa and Mexico. In Group C, three of the four teams were in the same group as each other in 1998. Twenty-eight years later, Brazil, Morocco and Scotland will play each other again on the world stage.
In the United States’ group, the Stars and Stripes will face familiar opponents in Paraguay and Australia. Despite playing in friendlies and other cup competitions in recent years, Paraguay and the hosts will be playing each other in World Cup competition for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1930.
Germany and Ecuador will play in a Group E rematch of their 2006 game, which saw the Germans run out as 3-0 winners. Miroslav Klose scored two of his 16 World Cup-record-setting goals in that match, with Lukas Podolski scoring the third.
Group F will see Japan reunited with the Netherlands and Tunisia. The Blue Samurai previously played the Dutch at the 2010 World Cup, sharing a group with Denmark and Cameroon, and losing 1-0. The last time Japan and Tunisia faced off was at the 2002 World Cup, also a group stage match, with Japan winning 2-0.
Finally, in Group I, France will be looking to settle the score from its 2002 match, where a goal from the late Papa Bouba Diop gave Senegal victory and put the wheels in motion for the then-defending champions’ early exit in the group stage. In that group is Iraq, which defeated Bolivia 2-1 in the intercontinental play-off on Tuesday. By doing so, Iraq secured the 48th and final spot to mark its first World Cup appearance in 40 years, in a group that also includes Norway.
A few records are also expected to be broken going into this tournament. For starters, Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi is chasing the all-time goal scorer record in World Cup history in what could be his last international tournament. Currently with 13 World Cup goals, if Messi scores four more goals with Argentina this summer, he will overtake Klose’s tally (16). However, hot on his heels is France and Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe, who has 12 goals. Mbappe featured in the last two finals, scoring in both, including a hat trick in the 2022 final loss against Argentina.
Speaking of France, it could also become the third team in history to make three consecutive appearances in the final, following West Germany (1982, 1986, 1990) and Brazil (1994, 1998, 2002).
Other records that could be set/broken are the most tournament appearances, with Messi and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo poised for an unprecedented six appearances after both appeared at five World Cups dating back to 2006. Messi also holds the record for most matches in World Cup history with 26, while Ronaldo has 22.
Here’s a look at the groups for the 2026 World Cup, the match schedule, and other pertinent information.
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