Cross in the most expanded World Cup in history
Today begins the FIFA World Cup 2026 in México City with full match between México vs South África.
The big moment that hundreds of millions of football fans around the world have been waiting for has arrived. The 23rd World Cup of 2026 opens its curtain in a few hours. At the top football meeting of the 4-year period, in an event with a historic character.
An experiment with dubious results, since with the new holding system and the 48 teams, the traditional "World Cup" no longer resembles a "final phase".
Especially the first games of the groups, are more reminiscent of a qualifying process, as there are several low-capacity national teams that participate (but of course they can create surprises), while tickets for the knockouts are taken by 32 teams, the first two of each group and the 8 best third-place teams.
A big change, if one considers that 3.5 years ago in Qatar, there were 32 participating teams in total, while in the first 50 years of the institution (1930-1978) between 13 and 16 national teams participated.
An experiment, then, that remains to be seen whether it will be widely accepted by the public. The "dispersal" in three organizing countries, also for the first time in history, makes the project more accessible, since fans in the huge markets of the USA, Canada and Mexico are expected to fill the stadiums for the games.
Like the mythical "Azteca" that will host the opening match of the tournament on Thursday (11/6, ) between Mexico and South Africa. The first round of matches includes several interesting games, but the highlight is undoubtedly the "derby" of the 12th group, England-Croatia in Dallas.
Group 1
11/6 Mexico City Mexico - South Africa
12/6 Guadalajara South Korea - Czech Republic
2nd Group
12/6 Toronto Canada - Bosnia
13/6 San Francisco Qatar - Switzerland
3rd Group
14/6 New York Brazil - Morocco
14/6 Boston Haiti - Scotland
4th Group
13/6 Los Angeles USA - Paraguay
14/6 Vancouver Australia - Turkey
5th Group
14/6 Houston Germany - Curacao
15/6 Philadelphia Ivory Coast - Ecuador
6th Group
14/6 Dallas Netherlands - Japan
15/6 Monterrey Sweden - Tunisia
Group 7
15/6 Seattle Belgium - Egypt
16/6 Los Angeles Iran - New Zealand
Group 8
15/6 Atlanta Spain - Cape Verde
16/6 Miami Saudi Arabia - Uruguay
Group 9
16/6 New York France - Senegal
17/6 Boston Iraq - Norway
10th Group
17/6 Kansas Argentina - Algeria
17/6 San Francisco Austria - Jordan
11th Group
17/6 Houston Portugal - Congo
18/6 Mexico City Uzbekistan - Colombia
12th Group
17/6 Dallas England - Croatia
18/6 Toronto Ghana - Panama
Manos Staramopoulos
Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs
Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com
Athens (Greece)
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