World Cup 2026: A Historic Tournament Across Three Nations

The World Cup has never looked like this.

Forty‑eight teams. Three host nations. Sixteen stadiums stretched from Mexico City’s thin air to Toronto’s lakeside chill and the sprawl of Los Angeles. The biggest World Cup in history lands in North America this week, and the continent is bracing for a month and more of noise, color and logistical strain.

For the first time, the tournament’s opening act is not one stage, one anthem, one city. It’s a three‑city premiere.

Three hosts, three opening nights

Mexico goes first.

On Thursday at the Estadio Azteca, the old cathedral of Latin American football, Mexico and South Africa will reprise the fixture that opened the 2010 World Cup. Back then, in Johannesburg on June 11, they shared a 1–1 draw. This time, the date is the same but the advantage flips: Mexico at altitude, at home, with 80,000 in green roaring them into Group A at 2 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET).

Before a ball is kicked, the Azteca becomes a concert hall. Shakira and Burna Boy will perform “Dai Dai,” the official song of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, headlining an opening ceremony that starts at 11:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET). They’ll be joined by a stacked Latin and global lineup — Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla — as FIFA rolls out the first‑ever World Cup album on stage.

The night doesn’t end there. Later on Thursday, at Akron Stadium in Zapopan near Guadalajara, South Korea and Czechia meet at 9 p.m. local time (11 p.m. ET), the second Group A fixture and the first glimpse of how the expanded format might stretch squads and supporters across distances.

On Friday, the tournament shifts north.

Toronto gets its moment as Canada finally walks out at a World Cup on home soil. BMO Field, hastily bulked up from 28,000 to 45,000 seats, hosts Canada versus Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first Group B match at 3 p.m. ET. Ninety minutes before kick‑off, at 1:30 p.m. ET, the Great White North puts its own musical stamp on the tournament with an opening ceremony featuring Alanis Morissette, Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez, Michael Bublé and others.

Then comes Hollywood.

At SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, the U.S. Men’s National Team returns to a World Cup on home turf for the first time since that sweltering July 4 in 1994, when Brazil ended their run in the Round of 16. Paraguay stand in their way on Friday at 6 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET), but the build‑up is pure spectacle. Katy Perry, Future, Anitta, LISA, Rema and Tyla headline an American opening ceremony set for 4:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET).

“The lineup of artists reflects the cultural diversity of the United States and the vibrancy of its many diasporas, highlighting the nation’s rich influence on music, entertainment and pop culture, while showcasing the power of music to bring people together across the country,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.

The football will have to live up to that billing.

A giant tournament, a giant security operation

With 11 host cities in the U.S. alone and millions of visitors expected to criss‑cross borders and time zones, the World Cup has become a security operation on a scale the country has rarely seen.

The FBI has already moved tactical teams into Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle. FBI Director Kash Patel said the crisis response units will “help support the massive security work involved in protecting players, fans, and visitors.”

For fans, that means time. At Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, CBS Boston reported that supporters may need to arrive more than an hour before kick‑off just to clear security.

Marlo Graham, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta field office, described the preparation as familiar in one sense, relentless in another.

Preparing for the men’s World Cup, he told CBS Atlanta, mirrors other large‑scale events — except this one runs for 39 days. “Our tactical teams have been practicing commingled with other tactical teams from other agencies for months leading up to this,” Graham said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement will also be part of the security web. White House border czar Tom Homan told CBS News that ICE’s “primary focus” during the tournament will be national security rather than immigration enforcement.

That assurance comes against the backdrop of a more‑than‑yearlong push by the Trump administration to tighten entry into the U.S., a policy shift that has already touched the World Cup. Over the weekend, Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, slated to officiate at the tournament, was denied entry. Customs and Border Protection cited “vetting concerns” in a statement on Monday. FIFA confirmed the decision but did not disclose further details.

What fans can and cannot bring

The world’s biggest tournament also comes with one of its strictest stadium rulebooks.

FIFA’s stadium code of conduct bans nontransparent bags and a wide array of items classed as hazardous: weapons, body protection gear, helmets, umbrellas, strollers and chairs are all off the list. Initially, the clampdown extended to “bottles, cups, jars, cans or any other form of closed or capped receptacle that may be thrown or cause injury,” plus branded water bottles.

That last point lit a fuse.

With games played in peak summer heat across North America, supporters bristled at the idea of being barred from bringing reusable water bottles into stadiums. The Free Lions, a group of England fans, voiced the anger on X: “What next? Suncream banned and fans forced to buy it in stadiums? Naturally, the immediate thought from supporters is this is just the latest money-grab.”

The backlash forced a tweak. World Cup 2026 Chief Operating Officer Heimo Schirgi later clarified on social media that each spectator in U.S. and Canadian venues will be allowed one soft, plastic, disposable, factory‑sealed water bottle up to 20 ounces. Hard reusable bottles remain prohibited.

Once inside, beverages — water, sodas, juices — are supplied exclusively by long‑time FIFA sponsor Coca‑Cola, The Associated Press reported.

“Absolutely egregious”: the cost of being there

Access to hydration is one battle. Access to the stadium at all is another.

The expanded format, with 16 stadiums in play, means more tickets than ever. It doesn’t mean they’re affordable. Group‑stage prices have soared into the hundreds and even thousands of dollars for certain matches, a shock even to seasoned travelers on the global football circuit.

“It’s an absolutely punishing number with regards to the ticket prices to get into a game,” said Phil Labas, captain of the Chicago chapter of the American Outlaws, a 30,000‑strong U.S. supporters’ group.

Labas told CBS News he has attended almost every U.S. Soccer event over the last four years. This time, a World Cup in his own country has pushed him and many fellow Outlaws to the rafters.

“We’re in the 300 section. We are upper deck in a corner … It’s an absolute travesty,” he said.

The distance from the pitch won’t mute them. “You’ll hear us, you’ll see us if they pan up, but we will absolutely be there,” Labas promised.

That’s the trade‑off in 2026: unprecedented access, at an unprecedented price.

Who can go all the way?

The size of the tournament has also supercharged the betting markets. With more teams, more matches and more uncertainty, the 2026 World Cup is expected to become one of the biggest gambling events in history.

Eyes naturally drift toward the usual giants — France, Spain, England, Brazil. Yet one of the most closely watched forecasters is looking elsewhere.

German economist Joachim Klement, who has correctly predicted the past three World Cup winners, told CBS News’ Ramy Inocencio that his pick this time is the Netherlands, a team that has never lifted the trophy but has brushed against it three times, reaching the final in 1974, 1978 and 2010.

Klement’s reasoning is cold and simple. The Dutch, he argued, sit among the “teams that are constant outperformers.” They lack a single global megastar on the scale of Lionel Messi, but they compensate with balance.

“I think they have a team that doesn’t have real stars, like [Lionel] Messi for Argentina, but they are a team that is very, very leveled in the performance of every one of the players in the team. So there’s no real weak spot,” he said. “The second thing is they have a really good defense, and in soccer more so than in most other sports, is the saying that offense wins matches, defense wins tournaments.”

The U.S. falls into a different category: dangerous, but constrained.

Drawn in Group D with Paraguay, Australia and Turkey, the USMNT has a realistic path to the knockout rounds and even, Klement suggested, a push to at least the quarterfinals. On paper, the group is balanced. No superpower looms over it. Opportunity is there.

The bigger obstacle, in his view, lies beyond tactics or talent.

“The U.S. has so many sports that compete for the talent pool that it isn’t really the dominating, most important sport in the U.S.,” Klement said. “While if you go anywhere in Europe or Latin America, it’s soccer and then there’s the rest.”

That cultural gap has always hung over American soccer. For 39 days this summer, with the world’s game planted firmly on U.S. soil and spilling over its borders into Mexico and Canada, the question is unavoidable: can this World Cup shift that hierarchy, or will it leave the country’s sporting landscape exactly as it found it?