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Good morning football fans. It’s Thursday, June. 11 - The opening World Cup match, toughest and easiest groups, every new rule change, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURE
World Cup 2026 opener: Mexico vs. South Africa, 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET. Co-hosts Mexico, who have won the most World Cup games (60) without winning the competition, are unbeaten in their last seven opening matches at a men’s World Cup. This is South Africa’s first World Cup since 2010, which they hosted, and they enter the tournament off the back of a four-match winless run in friendly fixtures. More broadly, the last two opening matches at the Azteca both ended in draws: Mexico and the Soviet Union played out a goalless tie in 1970, while Bulgaria and Italy drew 1-1 in 1986. See a detailed preview of the opening fixture here.
Results…
Friendly: Portugal 2-1 Nigeria | England 3-0 Costa Rica
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TOP TALKING POINTS
2026 World Cup Begins
The 2026 World Cup gets underway on Thursday (June 11), with co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa in the opening fixture at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. This is a repeat of the opening fixture from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where the hosts drew 1-1 with Mexico in a match that featured one of the World Cup’s most iconic goals, scored by Siphiwe Tshabalala — remind yourself of that goal here.
This is the 23rd edition of the World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams (up from 32) and the first to be hosted by three nations. Across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, 16 stadiums will be used, with the World Cup final set to be played at MetLife Stadium (renamed New York New Jersey Stadium for the tournament) on July 19. The U.S. is hosting 78 matches across 11 stadiums, while Canada and Mexico are hosting 13 each across two and three stadiums, respectively. See the most comprehensive World Cup stadium guide here.
This tournament, Adidas’ Trionda will be the official match ball. According to new research, the ball will provide more predictable movement in short-range actions such as corner kicks and short free kicks, making it far more stable than previous World Cup balls like the 2010 Jabulani. The Jabulani was described by NASA as “unpredictable.” However, high-speed kicks such as goal kicks and clearances are expected to lose range with Trionda, as research suggests the ball will descend a few metres earlier than expected.
See every 2026 World Cup group stage fixture here. If you can’t watch all 72 of them, then here’s a selection of the matches not to miss.
… and Group Stage Breakdown
There are 12 groups of four countries at the World Cup — see every group here. The two teams with the most points in each group will progress to the Round of 32, where they will be joined by the eight best third-placed sides. The best third-place teams are selected by points earned in the group matches, then by goal difference, goals scored, and then by the team conduct score, which is based on yellow and red cards. If two teams are still level, it’s decided by their Fifa ranking.
The ‘Group of Death’ this year is arguably Group I, featuring France, Senegal, Norway, and Iraq. It is the only group to feature as many as three teams ranked in the top 25 of Opta’s Power Rankings. Group F is just as tough to call, with the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, and Tunisia featuring two top-20 Fifa-ranked sides. Group K (Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, DR Congo) and Group D (Turkiye, Australia, Paraguay, and the United States) are also considered relatively tougher groups to qualify from. Group D has the tightest spread in Fifa World Cup ratings, making it the most evenly matched among the 12 groups.
By contrast, Spain should have the most straightforward path to the Round of 32 in Group H, which has the biggest dispersion in Fifa’s rankings — it features Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, and debutants Cape Verde. Tracking against Opta’s rankings, Group C sees a big difference between the best team (Brazil) and the worst team (Haiti), but the gap is even greater between Group E’s highest-ranked side, Germany and its lowest-ranked side, Curacao.
… and New World Cup Rules
FIFA and football’s lawmakers, Ifab, have introduced 11 new measures ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
New rules to prevent time-wasting are the most prevalent. Referees’ five-second visual countdown for time-wasting has been expanded to throw-ins and goal-kicks. Substituted players will also have 10 seconds to leave the pitch, and failure to do so will mean that the replacement player cannot enter for at least one minute. In a similar vein, should a player be treated by physios, they must stay off the pitch for one minute after play restarts to deter players from faking injuries. This increases the previous 30-second period used in leagues such as the Premier League.
VAR’s remit has been expanded for this tournament. The video technology, aided by the Trionda ball, will now be able to check whether a corner was correctly awarded, review red cards arising from clearly incorrect second-yellow-card decisions, and correct mistaken identities. A lesser-known VAR expansion allows reviews of attacking fouls before the ball is in play. Previously, if an attacker blocked or impeded a defender before a corner was taken and their team scored, VAR could not intervene because the incident happened before the restart. Now, if that foul directly leads to a goal, VAR can rule it out and order the corner to be retaken.
Lastly, referees now have the power to show red cards to players who cover their mouths in confrontational situations with opponents, and to players who leave the field in protest against a decision.
POLL
Where will you be watching the World Cup opening match?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Tottenham have extended defender Ben Davies’ contract for the 13th season (More); Spurs have also signed former Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi (More) | Manchester United have confirmed that their fourth-most-expensive signing ever Jadon Sancho has left the club as a free agent (More) | Everton have been told they must pay Burnley £35m over the impact of breaches of the Premier League's financial rules (More)
> Manchester City have made a British-record transfer bid of €123m for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson (More) | Manchester City Women have agreed a deal to sign Beth Mead following her departure from Arsenal (More)
> Bukayo Saka continues to play through the pain of an Achilles injury, according to the England manager, Thomas Tuchel (More)
> The audience for the Women’s Champions League doubled this season, with figures confirmed more than 39.7 million viewers, and is expected to reach at least 44.5 million once final figures are in (More)
> Kieran McKenna is stepping down as Ipswich manager to take a break from football (More)
Americas
> Baby Boomers in America — those now in their 60s and 70s — are the least excited for the World Cup, and half of poll respondents didn’t know who Lionel Messi was, per Bloomberg (More/original source paywalled)
> New York establishments will be able to serve alcohol until 4:00 AM across the whole state during the World Cup (More) | Stadium workers near Los Angeles say they have reached a tentative contract deal, averting a strike ahead of the U.S. men’s soccer team’s opening World Cup match (More)
> FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that it’s better to “chill and relax” over visa issues and that his organisation cannot dictate to the U.S. government (More)
> Argentina’s 3-0 friendly win over Iceland had an attendance of 88,043, the largest attended football match ever in the state of Alabama (More); Lionel Messi scored on his return from suffering muscle overload in his left hamstring (More); see Messi’s first touch after being subbed on (More)
Rest of the World
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Who do you think will win the 2026 World Cup?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🇪🇸 Spain (34%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ 🇫🇷 France (27%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🏴 England (17%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🇦🇷 Argentina (7%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (15%)
Your punditry takes:
🇪🇸 J.L: “Spain's manager named a number of players who play club football together. International teams are all-star teams, and naming players who play and train together all season gives a huge advantage. And, Spain has the best keeper in the world.”
🇫🇷 W.T: “France has what it takes. There's a superstar in every position of the XI, and while that doesn't necessarily guarantee success, this group actually seems capable of playing together as a unit. I think they'll be unstoppable.”
🏴 U.E: “England players have the highest combination of physical ability and skill and I think the physical element is going to be huge.”
🇦🇷 A: “All the right ingredients, no drama and an incredible coach… and almost forgot, a dude called Messi!”
🇵🇹 S.T: “Portugal, fate might bring Cristiano Ronaldo some good luck and redeem what his close rival Lionel Messi achieved at the last World Cup.”
🇩🇪 K.F: “Germany has a great team, but does not seem to be on the media’s radar. They could be a big surprise.”
🇳🇱 🏴 A.G: “Netherlands if I had to put money on it, but Scotland if I’m basing it on vibes.”
EXTRA TIME
Argentina will be Google’s AI test bench at the World Cup.
Prices at Seattle’s World Cup stadium revealed.
How to complete the largest ever World Cup sticker book.
The Premier League 2025-26 season in 100 photos.
Revisiting every England World Cup exit since 1966.
Erling Haaland surprises his ‘haters’.
Newcastle unveil controversial new kit.
… and Hull’s experimental new Premier League kit.
GAME FACE ON
True or false: No foreign manager has ever won the World Cup.
Scroll below for the answer.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
I haven’t completely ruled out playing in the 2030 World Cup. If I’m still scoring every week at 41, then maybe I can keep going for another four years.
Answer
True. See the nationality of every World Cup-winning manager here.
