MEXICO CITY — The first game of the 2026 World Cup will be played in Group A, with co-host Mexico kicking off the tournament against South Africa on June 11 in Mexico City. The Czech Republic and South Korea complete the group.
Most of the games will be played in Mexico: two in Mexico City, two in Guadalajara and one in Monterrey, AP reported.
The one game outside Mexico will be in Atlanta on June 18 between the Czech Republic and South Africa.
Two of Mexico´s matches will be at the recently renovated Azteca Stadium, which hosted the World Cup finals in 1970 and 1986.
Hosting the World Cup for the first time in 40 years, Mexico will hope to rebound from a group-stage elimination four years ago in Qatar. Before that, it was eliminated in the round of 16 seven consecutive times between 1994 and 2018.
The only times Mexico made it to the last eight was when it hosted the tournament, in 1970 and 1986.
Much of the team´s hopes will rest on 17-year-old Gilberto Mora, who last year became the youngest ever to play for Mexico´s senior squad at 16.
The team will be coached by veteran Javier Aguirre, who took over the squad in 2024 for his third stint with the national team.
“I count myself lucky,” Aguirre, a former Mexico player, was quoted as saying by FIFA.com. “Every day I´m grateful to be here, doing what I´m doing, because I´m Mexican… and because the best moment in my coaching career is on the horizon. As a player, nothing could top playing at a home World Cup.”
South Africa is back in the World Cup for the first time since hosting the tournament in 2010.
Despite an upset 2-1 win against France, it became the first host nation to be eliminated in the group stage.
South Africa´s only other appearances had been in 1998 and 2002, when it also failed to reach the knockout rounds.
The South Africans made it to the World Cup this year by edging African powerhouse Nigeria in their qualifying group.
The team will be coached by Belgian Hugo Broos, who has been in charge of the Bafana Bafana since 2021. The squad is mostly made up of players from local clubs.
South Korea will make its 12th World Cup appearance – the most of any Asian country. Its best result was a fourth-place finish at the tournament it co-hosted with Japan in 2002.
Since then, the South Koreans have never gone beyond the round of 16. Four years ago in Qatar, they finished second to Portugal in a group that also included Uruguay and Ghana. They were eliminated by Brazil 4-1 in the last 16.
The team was undefeated in Asian qualifying but hasn’t impressed in its recent World Cup warmups, losing to Ivory Coast 4-0 and Austria 1-0 last month.
The team’s biggest star and captain is former Tottenham attacker Son Heung-min, who now plays for Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer. Other players to watch include Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Lee Kang-in and Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae.
Coach Hong Myung-bo has been in charge since 2024 in his second stint with South Korea. The former defender was the captain of the South Korea team that reached the semifinals in 2002.
The Czech Republic needed a penalty shootout win over Denmark in the European playoffs to make it to its first World Cup since 2006.
It arrived at the 2006 tournament as one of the highest-ranked teams but wasn’t able to get past a group stage that included Italy, Ghana and the United States.
Former captain Vladimír Darida, 35, agreed to come out of international retirement to help the team qualify for the World Cup. Darida had left the national team in 2021 after the Czechs were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the European Championship.
The team´s coach is 74-year-old Miroslav Koubek, who replaced Ivan Hasek late last year after the team´s 2-1 loss to minnow Faeroe Islands in World Cup qualifying.
