Mexico and the Azteca open the World Cup for a historic third time
The Estadio Azteca becomes the first ground to host three World Cup opening matches when Mexico face South Africa on June 11, four decades after Maradona lit it up in 1986.
Jun 8, 2026
When Mexico kick off against South Africa on June 11, the cameras will linger on the stands as much as the football. The Estadio Azteca in Mexico City is about to do something no other ground has managed: host a World Cup opening match for the third time. It staged the curtain-raiser in 1970, did it again in 1986, and now, 40 years on, it gets to open the biggest tournament the sport has ever attempted.
That alone makes the first match of this World Cup worth pausing over. The expanded 48-team format means 104 games spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico between June 11 and July 19, but it all begins in the one place that has seen this kind of occasion before.
A stadium that has seen it all
The Azteca’s history is the kind most grounds can only dream of. Pelé’s Brazil lifted the 1970 trophy here after beating Italy in the final, a side many still rate as the greatest to play the game. Sixteen years later it was the stage for Diego Maradona’s finest tournament, the 1986 World Cup he dragged Argentina through almost single-handedly before lifting the trophy on the same turf.
Getting the old ground ready for a third act has not been cheap. The stadium was shut from May 2024 for a renovation reported at around 75 million dollars, work aimed at meeting FIFA’s modern requirements without stripping away the character that makes the place what it is.
Mexico carry the weight of a nation
For the hosts, the opener is both a privilege and a burden. Mexico have reached the knockout rounds at almost every World Cup they have played, yet have rarely gone deep, and a home tournament raises the expectation another notch. Drawn in Group A alongside South Africa, South Korea and Czechia, they will fancy their chances of progressing, but the noise inside the Azteca on opening night will come with its own pressure.
Starting a World Cup in front of your own crowd is the kind of moment players talk about for the rest of their lives. It can lift a team or it can weigh on them, and how Mexico handle those opening exchanges may set the tone for their whole campaign.
South Africa’s long road back
On the other side is a team with a story of its own. South Africa are at a World Cup for the first time since 2010, when they hosted it, and this time they had to earn their place, topping their qualifying group to get back to the finals. Hugo Broos, the Belgian who guided them through qualifying and to third place at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, has said this will be his final job in management, which gives Bafana Bafana an extra reason to make it count.
They could hardly have drawn a tougher opening assignment than a host nation in a heaving Azteca, but tournaments have a habit of remembering the teams who turn up with nothing to lose. For a generation of South African fans who have waited a long time for this, simply being back on the biggest stage is its own kind of victory.