The biggest World Cup ever begins today: 48 teams, 104 matches, three countries
The 2026 tournament is the largest in football history. For Indian viewers, the first whistle blows at 12.30 am IST.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the largest football tournament ever staged, opens in Mexico City today, with hosts Mexico facing South Africa at the Estadio Azteca. For Indian audiences, the opener kicks off at 12.30 am IST on June 12.
This edition is bigger and longer than any World Cup before it. The field has expanded to 48 teams from the 32 that have contested every tournament since 1998, and a record 104 matches will be played across 16 stadiums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, according to FIFA. The three host nations qualified automatically; the remaining 45 earned their places through a qualifying campaign that ran for more than two years.
The expansion reshapes the format. The 48 teams are split into 12 groups of four. The top two from each group advance to the knockout stage, joined by the eight best third-placed teams, a 32-team bracket that did not exist in earlier editions.
Of the 104 matches, 72 fall in the group stage and 32 in the knockout rounds, which begin with the round of 32 on 28 June. The final is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium outside New York.
The scale also stretches the demands on the players. The 1,248 footballers in the tournament will compete in conditions that swing from the summer heat of host cities such as Houston to the high altitude of Guadalajara, across a continent and four time zones.
For Indian fans, the catch is the clock. With most matches played in North American afternoons and evenings, kickoffs land deep in the Indian night and early morning — beginning with the opener at 12.30 am IST. The full fixture list, every kickoff converted to IST, is published alongside this story.
The first whistle settles none of it. But after years of buildup, the 2026 World Cup finally gets underway today, when Mexico and South Africa walk out at the Azteca, a rematch of the 2010 opener that the two teams played to a 1–1 draw.
Whether the rematch ends in a draw again is anyone's guess. For once, though, the first match of the World Cup comes with a script already written.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the largest football tournament ever staged, opens in Mexico City today, with hosts Mexico facing South Africa at the Estadio Azteca. For Indian audiences, the opener kicks off at 12.30 am IST on June 12.
This edition is bigger and longer than any World Cup before it. The field has expanded to 48 teams from the 32 that have contested every tournament since 1998, and a record 104 matches will be played across 16 stadiums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, according to FIFA. The three host nations qualified automatically; the remaining 45 earned their places through a qualifying campaign that ran for more than two years.
The expansion reshapes the format. The 48 teams are split into 12 groups of four. The top two from each group advance to the knockout stage, joined by the eight best third-placed teams, a 32-team bracket that did not exist in earlier editions.
Of the 104 matches, 72 fall in the group stage and 32 in the knockout rounds, which begin with the round of 32 on 28 June. The final is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium outside New York.
The scale also stretches the demands on the players. The 1,248 footballers in the tournament will compete in conditions that swing from the summer heat of host cities such as Houston to the high altitude of Guadalajara, across a continent and four time zones.
For Indian fans, the catch is the clock. With most matches played in North American afternoons and evenings, kickoffs land deep in the Indian night and early morning — beginning with the opener at 12.30 am IST. The full fixture list, every kickoff converted to IST, is published alongside this story.
The first whistle settles none of it. But after years of buildup, the 2026 World Cup finally gets underway today, when Mexico and South Africa walk out at the Azteca, a rematch of the 2010 opener that the two teams played to a 1–1 draw.
Whether the rematch ends in a draw again is anyone's guess. For once, though, the first match of the World Cup comes with a script already written.
