World Cup 2026: North America Prepares for Football’s Biggest Event

The biggest World Cup ever staged has finally landed in North America, and the continent is bracing for a month‑plus of noise, color and late‑night drama stretched across three countries and 11 time zones.

From Mexico City’s smoggy bowl to the Toronto waterfront and the sprawl of greater New York, 48 national teams are about to test an expanded format that changes the shape of the tournament for the first time since 1998. It is also the first World Cup shared by three hosts: the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Three countries. Three opening ceremonies. One sprawling, high‑stakes experiment.

Azteca starts the party – and stirs old memories

The first act belongs, fittingly, to Estadio Azteca. On Thursday, before Mexico and South Africa walk out for the opening Group A match, the old cathedral of world football turns into a concert stage.

Shakira and Burna Boy will perform “Dai Dai,” the official song of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, headlining a show that begins at 11:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET). They will be joined by a cast drawn from FIFA’s first‑ever World Cup album: Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla are all slated to appear, according to FIFA.

Then comes the football.

At 2 p.m. local (3 p.m. ET), Mexico and South Africa meet in a fixture that carries a sharp echo. They opened the 2010 World Cup against each other in Johannesburg on June 11 and drew 1–1. Same date, different continent, and this time El Tri step out in their own backyard, with a nation’s expectations pressed against the Azteca’s concrete.

Later that night, Group A shifts west. South Korea face Czechia at Akron Stadium in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, in a 9 p.m. local kickoff (11 p.m. ET), the second thread in a group that already feels unpredictable.

Toronto’s transformation and Canada’s first home World Cup match

On Friday, the World Cup moves north to a city that has been reshaping itself for this moment.

BMO Field, sitting on the edge of Lake Ontario, has been expanded from 28,000 to 45,000 seats for the tournament, a concrete statement that Canada is no longer content to watch these events from afar. At 3 p.m. ET, Canada face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first Group B match and, more importantly, in Canada’s first World Cup game on home soil.

Ninety minutes before kick‑off, at 1:30 p.m. ET, Toronto gets its own opening ceremony. Alanis Morissette, Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez, Michael Bublé and other performers will take the stage, a distinctly Canadian bill in a tournament that keeps leaning into its musical muscle.

Hollywood lights and a throwback for the USMNT

The United States’ turn comes later on Friday in Los Angeles, where the U.S. Men’s National Team begin their Group D campaign against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium. Kick‑off is set for 6 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET), the Americans’ first World Cup match at home since July 4, 1994, when Brazil ended their run 1–0 in the Round of 16.

Before the ball rolls, LA gets a show befitting its zip code. Katy Perry, Future, Anitta, LISA, Rema and Tyla headline the U.S. opening ceremony at 4:30 p.m. local (7:30 p.m. ET), a lineup FIFA President Gianni Infantino says is designed to mirror the country’s cultural mix and its global influence in music and entertainment.

On the pitch, the USMNT will wear brand‑new kits with a deliberate nod to the past, including striping inspired by the 1994 jerseys. A visual reminder that the last time the World Cup came here, American soccer was still trying to prove it belonged. This time, the expectations are heavier.

A World Cup under guard: security tightens across the U.S.

With 16 stadiums in three countries and millions of fans on the move, the 2026 tournament also becomes a massive security operation.

In the United States, the FBI has deployed tactical teams to every host city: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle. FBI Director Kash Patel said the crisis response units will “help support the massive security work involved in protecting players, fans, and visitors.”

For supporters heading to matches, that means time. Fans attending games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, may need to arrive more than an hour early just to clear security, CBS Boston reported.

Marlo Graham, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta field office, described the World Cup as similar to other large‑scale events, with one crucial difference: the length. This tournament stretches over 39 days. “Our tactical teams have been practicing commingled with other tactical teams from other agencies for months leading up to this,” Graham said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will also be part of the security framework. White House border czar Tom Homan told CBS News that ICE’s “primary focus” during the World Cup will be national security, not immigration enforcement.

The build‑up comes against the backdrop of a more‑than‑yearlong effort by the Trump administration to tighten entry into the U.S., a policy shift that has already brushed up against the tournament. Over the weekend, Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, scheduled to officiate at the World Cup, was denied entry to the U.S. over what Customs and Border Protection called “vetting concerns.” FIFA confirmed he was turned away but did not disclose details.

What fans can – and cannot – bring

Inside the stadiums, FIFA’s code of conduct will shape the match‑day routine.

Nontransparent bags are out. So are weapons, body protection gear, helmets, umbrellas, strollers and chairs. Initially, FIFA also moved to block “bottles, cups, jars, cans or any other form of closed or capped receptacle that may be thrown or cause injury,” including branded water bottles.

That rule ran straight into a North American summer. With games scheduled in peak heat, the backlash came quickly. The Free Lions, an English fan group, took to X to ask, “What next? Suncream banned and fans forced to buy it in stadiums? Naturally, the immediate thought from supporters is this is just the latest money-grab.”

The pressure told.

World Cup 2026 Chief Operating Officer Heimo Schirgi later clarified on social media that each spectator in U.S. and Canadian stadiums will be allowed to bring one soft, plastic, disposable, factory‑sealed water bottle of up to 20 ounces. Hard reusable bottles remain banned.

Inside the grounds, beverages – water, sodas and juices – will be supplied exclusively by long‑time FIFA sponsor Coca‑Cola, The Associated Press reported.

“Absolutely egregious”: the price of being there

This World Cup is bigger. It is also more expensive.

With matches spread across 16 stadiums, more fans than ever have the chance to see games in person, but many are being priced out. Group‑stage tickets have surged into the hundreds and, for some fixtures, thousands of dollars.

“It’s an absolutely punishing number with regards to the ticket prices to get into a game,” said Phil Labas, captain of the Chicago chapter of the American Outlaws, a nationwide supporters’ group of around 30,000 U.S. fans.

Labas, a regular at U.S. Soccer events over the past four years, said the cost of this home World Cup has forced many of the Outlaws into the upper reaches of the stadiums. “We’re in the 300 section. We are upper deck in a corner ... It’s an absolute travesty,” he said.

They will go anyway. That is the deal supporters make. “You’ll hear us, you’ll see us if they pan up, but we will absolutely be there,” Labas promised.

Who can go all the way?

Off the pitch, the tournament is already being framed as one of the biggest betting events in history. The usual giants dominate the odds – France, Spain, England, Brazil – but one voice is cutting against that grain.

German economist Joachim Klement, who has correctly predicted the last three World Cup winners, told CBS News’ Ramy Inocencio that his 2026 pick is the Netherlands.

His reasoning is blunt. The Dutch, he argues, sit among the “teams that are constant outperformers.” They have reached three World Cup finals – in 1974, 1978 and 2010 – without lifting the trophy. Klement points to a squad without a Messi‑style superstar but with a consistently high level across the board and, crucially, a strong defense.

“I think they have a team that doesn’t have real stars, like [Lionel] Messi for Argentina, but they are a team that is very, very leveled in the performance of every one of the players in the team. So there’s no real weak spot,” he said. “The second thing is they have a really good defense, and in soccer more so than in most other sports, is the saying that offense wins matches, defense wins tournaments.”

For the United States, Klement sees a split picture.

The draw offers opportunity. In Group D, the Americans line up alongside Paraguay, Australia and Turkey, a field he views as balanced enough to give the USMNT a real shot at advancing and possibly pushing toward at least the quarterfinals.

The obstacle, in his view, lies away from tactics and talent. “The U.S. has so many sports that compete for the talent pool that it isn’t really the dominating, most important sport in the U.S.,” he said. “While if you go anywhere in Europe or Latin America, it’s soccer and then there’s the rest.”

The stage is built anyway. The tickets are sold, the anthems rehearsed, the security lines marked out in tape and barriers.

Now comes the only part that really matters: 39 days to decide whether this vast, three‑nation World Cup can deliver a tournament worthy of its scale – and whether a continent that once treated the sport as an outsider is finally ready to let it rule the summer.