Today the 2026 World Cup starts.

      Today marks the beginning of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In the opening match, the teams of Mexico and the Republic of South Africa will play against each other. The starting whistle will be blown at 22:00 Moscow time. This will be the only match on the first day of play. The Mexico vs. South Africa match will take place at the legendary "Azteca" stadium in Mexico City (capacity - over 87,000 people). Before the match, there will be an opening ceremony for the World Cup. It is worth noting that it was the teams of South Africa and Mexico that played in the opening match of the World Cup 16 years ago - in 2010, when the tournament was hosted by South Africa. That match ended in a 1:1 draw. The World Cup will take place from June 11 to July 19. For the first time in World Cup history, three countries will host the tournament - the USA, Mexico, and Canada. A total of 48 teams will participate instead of the usual 32. There will be a total of 104 matches in the World Cup (a record for World Cups). The largest stadiums in the tournament will be AT&T Stadium in Dallas (about 94,000 spectators), Estadio Azteca in Mexico City (83,000), and MetLife Stadium in New York (82,500 people).

      Here are the 12 groups:

      A. Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czech Republic;

      B. Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland;

      C. Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland;

      D. USA, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey;

      E. Germany, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador;

      F. Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia;

      G. Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand;

      H. Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay;

      I. France, Senegal, Iraq, Norway;

      J. Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan;

      K. Portugal, DR Congo, Uzbekistan, Colombia;

      L. England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama.

      The two strongest teams from each group will advance to the Round of 16. Teams that finish in third place in their groups will enter a ranking, the top 8 of which will also advance to the playoffs. Accordingly, out of 48 teams, 32 will make it to the playoffs, and 16 will go home.

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      Today marks the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup

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      The show begins

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