Mexico to kick off 2026 World Cup against South Africa

The 2026 World Cup will kick off on June 11 with joint-hosts Mexico playing South Africa at the Azteca Stadium – venue of the 1970 and 1986 finals – followed by South Korea against a playoff winner after the draw was made on Friday.

South Africa are appearing for the first time since 2010, when they drew with Mexico in an iconic opening match but failed to reach the knockout stage.

Fellow hosts the United States and Canada will join the party the next day, against Paraguay and a playoff winner – possibly Italy – respectively in Los Angeles and Toronto.

Defending champions Argentina were grouped with Algeria, Austria and Jordan, while five-times winners Brazil will play Morocco – semi-finalists in 2022 – Haiti and Scotland.

The Scots are appearing in the finals for the first time since 1998, when they lost to Brazil in the opening game.

THE DRAW IN FULL

GROUP A

Mexico

South Africa

South Korea

European Playoff D [Denmark/North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Ireland]

GROUP B

Canada

European Playoff A [Italy/Northern Ireland/Wales/Bosnia and Herzegovina]

Qatar

Switzerland

GROUP C

Brazil

Morocco

Haiti

Scotland

GROUP D

United States

Paraguay

Australia

European Playoff C [Turkey/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo]

GROUP E

Germany

Curacao

Ivory Coast

Ecuador

GROUP F

Netherlands

Japan

European Playoff B [Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania]

Tunisia

GROUP G

Belgium

Egypt

Iran

New Zealand

GROUP H

Spain

Cape Verde

Saudi Arabia

Uruguay

GROUP I

France

Senegal

FIFA Playoff 2 [Bolivia/Suriname/Iraq]

Norway

GROUP J

Argentina

Algeria

Austria

Jordan

GROUP K

Portugal

FIFA Playoff 1 [New Caledonia/Jamaica/DR Congo]

Uzbekistan

Colombia

GROUP L

England

Croatia

Ghana

Panama 

France’s first game will be against Senegal in a repeat of one of the biggest tournament upsets, when the Africans stunned the then-holders in their first game of the 2002 tournament.

England will start against Croatia, who beat them in the 2018 semi-finals, and also face Panama, who they beat 6-1 in the group stage in the same tournament.

The teams outside the hosts’ groups will have to wait until Saturday to find out the venues and kickoff times for their games after Fifa attempts to optimise venues and kickoff times relating to the various worldwide TV markets.

A newly introduced seeding system ensures that the current top four in the world – Spain, holders Argentina, 2022 runners-up France and England – cannot meet until the semi-final stage if they win their groups.

The 48 teams – including six still-to-be-decided playoff winners – were divided into 12 groups of four to produce a mammoth 104-match schedule across 16 cities in the US, Canada and Mexico, culminating in the final in New Jersey on July 19.

Venues and kickoff times will be announced in another globally broadcast event on Saturday, though even that is subject to adjustment in March once the six playoff qualification spots have been filled.