We are officially one day away from the beginning of World Cup 2026: on June 11, 2026, the group stage will begin with the opening ceremony in Mexico City, with a match between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa, kicking off at 21:00 CEST, 20:00 BST.
But Thursday's match will also be interesting because it will be the (first) opening ceremony, which has been confirmed to have musical performances. Shakira, who has composed the official song of the competition, Dai Dai, will perform along Nigerian singer Burna Boy.
The opening ceremony will begin an hour and a half before kick-off (19:30 CEST, 18:30 BST on Thursday, June 11).
Two other opening ceremonies in Canada and the US
There will be two other opening ceremonies for the first matches in Canada (vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina at 21:00 CEST, 20:00 BST of Friday, in Toronto), and the first match in the USA (vs. Paraguay, at 03:00 CEST, 02:00 BST of Saturday in Los Angeles), which will also have musical performances: Michael Buble and Alanis Morissette in Canada and Katy Perry and Future in the US.
The opening ceremonies have been produced by Italian producer Marco Balich, who also worked on the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics Games in Milano-Cortina.
Shakira will also perform in the half-time show of the World Cup final on July 19, with Madonna and BTS.
World Cup group stage will be the longest of all time, with 72 matches until June 27. During the weekend, the other co-hosts Canada and United States will debut, as well as countries like Brazil, Morocco, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, and of course, Curaçao, the smallest country ever to participate in a World Cup, with barely 150,000 people.