Even asking whether it is coming home feels like a jinx, but the World Cup arrives tonight with a start that is impossible to miss: three opening ceremonies, beginning in Mexico City Stadium with J Balvin and Tyla on the bill.
That is why fans are searching for world cup tonight now. At 6.15pm, ITV1 has coverage tied to the tournament kick-off, and at 7.50pm it shows World Cup Football, Mexico v South Africa, the first game of the tournament. The night is not just about one match. It is the launch of a summer event built around 48 teams and spread across three cities, with Mexico City first in line.
For the opening ceremony in Mexico City Stadium, the draw is not subtle. Balvin and Tyla give the launch a pop-star edge, and the tournament has chosen to begin with spectacle before the first whistle. The other opening events follow on Friday in Toronto and Los Angeles, extending the kickoff across North America rather than concentrating it in one place.
That spread is part of what makes this start unusual, but it also leaves one gap: the schedule does not say who will perform in Toronto and Los Angeles. For now, the first clear marker is Mexico City, where the World Cup begins with music, a stadium and a match that puts Mexico against South Africa at 7.50pm on ITV1.
By the time the first ball is kicked, the tournament will already have made its point. This is not a quiet opening. It is a three-city launch for a competition of 48 teams, and tonight belongs first to the performers in Mexico City Stadium, then to the match that follows.
