sports
Thousands Fail to Break Human Wave Record in Mexico City World Cup Warm-up Event
Participants lined Paseo de la Reforma on Saturday to set a new Guinness record days before Mexico hosts the 2026 World Cup opening match. Officials are reviewing the attempt.
Jun 7, 12:03 PM·2m read2 sources
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Thousands of people gathered along Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City on Saturday to attempt a new Guinness World Record for the largest human wave. Participants conducted several practice runs before the main effort and threw their arms in the air during the attempt. Many wore the bright green jersey of the Mexican national team.
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Guinness World Records officials are analysing the effort to determine whether a new record was set. The current record stands at 157,574 people, achieved at a NASCAR event in Tennessee in 2008. The attempt took place on Paseo de la Reforma, an iconic arterial road in Mexico City inspired by European boulevards.
It occurred just days before Mexico hosts the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The human wave first captured global attention in Mexico City 40 years ago. It became a global phenomenon after being broadcast to a large international audience during the 1986 FIFA World Cup hosted in Mexico.
George Henderson, known as Krazy George, believes he initiated and directed the first wave at a baseball game in California in 1981 between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees. He stated that in the third inning he found three sections and started explaining what he wanted after the Oakland A's had lost two away games.
Krazy George stated that the first two attempts failed but on the third try the wave went all the way around the stadium and on the fourth he created a continuous wave.
He stated that the place was going crazy after the successful wave. A typical human wave travels clockwise and moves at a speed of about 12 metres or 20 seats per second. In large stadiums, only 25 to 35 people are needed to start a wave.
