MEXICO CITY – Mexico City opened the World Cup on Thursday at the famous Azteca stadium with a ceremony celebrating pre-Hispanic culture, as the ground rocked ahead of the tournament’s first match between Mexico and South Africa that kicks off against a backdrop of protests around the capital.
Fans in Mariachi costumes, with sombreros and trumpets, formed a sea of dark green support as Shakira and Burna Boy performed the 2026 World Cup anthem and pyrotechnics filled the ground.
Alejandro Garcia, 50, decked out in a sombrero and carrying a replica trophy, said he was proud that Mexico was hosting another World Cup. He was a young kid when the country last hosted the tournament in 1986.
“This is our temple,” he said on the concourse around the Azteca. “It’s going to be a great World Cup, all of the protests will now be forgotten.”
But outside the ground, the city of 9 million people remained deeply divided.
The run-up to the tournament in Mexico, which the country is co-hosting with the U.S. and Canada, has been marked by social unrest in the capital as various groups — from teachers to families of those missing in the drug war — have marched in attempts to leverage the international spotlight to advance their cause.
At least six protests were planned on Thursday, with the city a contradiction of celebration and opposition. Freshly painted murals, new trains and a revamped stadium aimed at welcoming tourists for the games contrasted with steel barricades mounted by businesses to protect themselves from rioters along the capital’s main avenue.
