By McGeorge Mbare
THE journey to the world’s most prestigious tournament kicks off on Thursday, 11 June 2026, in Mexico City, as hosts Mexico face South Africa in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2026, co-hosted by the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada.
The matchup is a rematch of the 2010 FIFA World Cup opener in South Africa, played exactly 16 years after the two sides drew 1-1 in Johannesburg through Simphiwe Tshabalala’s sensational strike and Rafael Márquez’s equaliser. It marks the first time a World Cup opening fixture has ever been repeated among the tournament’s previous single-match openers.
The fixture will mark the start of a 39-day tournament featuring 104 games – 40 more than the last edition in Qatar 2022. With an expanded participation pool of 48 teams, the 2026 World Cup Is the biggest in the sport’s history, and the first to be held across three countries.
Bafana Bafana and Mexico are in Group A alongside the Czech Republic and South Korea.
The football-crazy nation of Mexico is no stranger to the global stage. El Tri are gearing up for a whopping 17th appearance at the finals, while Bafana Bafana will make their fourth FIFA World Cup appearance and their first since hosting the tournament in 2010.
Home advantage and a higher FIFA ranking make Mexico the favourites in this match, but with a huge crowd expected to attend, the co-hosts find themselves under pressure to deliver the winning start their fans expect against the African side.
Mexico are unbeaten in their last seven FIFA World Cup opening matches, recorded five victories and two draws. Their most recent opening-match defeat came in 1994, when they suffered a 1-0 loss against Norway.
Meanwhile, None of South Africa’s nine FIFA World Cup matches have ended goalless. Their two victories in the competition came against Slovenia in 2002 and France in 2010. The 1-0 win over Slovenia also remains the nation’s only World Cup clean sheet.
Bafana Bafana is Ranked 60th in the FIFA rankings, far below 14th-ranked Mexico. But many fans across the African continent believe this South’s Sqaud depth is more than capable of pulling off an upset in this competition.