2026 World Cup Opens at Azteca Stadium
Mexico hosts the opening match against South Africa while relatives of missing persons and striking teachers stage demonstrations near the venue.
Los Angeles TimesThe 2026 FIFA World Cup opens Thursday with an afternoon ceremony at Mexico City Stadium, also known as Banorte Stadium or Azteca Stadium, followed by Mexico’s match against South Africa. Shakira headlines the pre-match show with Alejandro Fernández and Los Ángeles Azules. Mexico City and Guadalajara are the only two cities to host matches in three World Cup tournaments.
The 2026 tournament is co-hosted by three countries. On match day, authorities will restrict access within about one mile of the stadium to ticket holders. Relatives of missing persons have joined teachers, farmers, transportation workers, animal rights activists and sex workers in protests that have continued for a week.
A large demonstration is scheduled for Wednesday night in Tlalpan near the stadium, with additional rallies planned Thursday in the Zócalo where the match will be shown on screens. Ana Laura Velásquez Delgado searched nine months for her son Jesús before an independent group found his remains in a grave with 12 others.
The body was located 14 miles from the Toluca stadium where Mexico played its final pre-tournament exhibition.
Velásquez Delgado has sought justice for four years; the loss contributed to her husband’s recent death. , who disappeared in Coahuila. “We want to highlight that Mexico is facing a crisis of disappearances and also a crisis of impunity,” he said.
In Guadalajara, the Light of Hope Collective has distributed trading cards showing missing persons on Mexican national team jerseys. President Claudia Sheinbaum has distinguished disappearances by organized crime from those involving state agents. She stated her administration has met with families and reduced prior state corruption linked to cases two decades ago.
Sheinbaum said of the protests: “We don’t know if they are teachers or a group looking to provoke. ” Fences will be installed in the Zócalo to limit confrontations. More than 16,000 teachers began striking May 25 in Oaxaca under the leadership of Fausto Enríquez García, secretary of Section 22 of the National Union of Education Workers.
