Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez was among the invited honor guests when Mexico opened the 2026 World Cup on June 11 at the Estadio Banorte, renamed Estadio Ciudad de México for the tournament. He was expected to deliver the player-of-the-match award as the ceremony unfolded before the tournament’s first game.
That made Canelo one of the best-known names on a stage built to launch a World Cup that will be played by 48 national teams, the largest field in the event’s history. Salma Hayek gave the official welcome to attendees and viewers, while Marcelo Vieira, Roberto Carlos, Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Müller were also present, turning the inauguration into a gathering that mixed sport, film and global celebrity in one place.
The day’s pageantry mattered because it came at the start of a tournament Mexico helped open, but the ceremony was not the main event on the schedule. Mexico vs Sudáfrica marked the match that opened the World Cup, and the ceremony served as the curtain-raiser to a competition that now carries more games, more teams and more attention than any previous edition.
That contrast is what gives the moment its weight. The invitation list signaled an effort to frame the World Cup as a cultural occasion as much as a sporting one, yet the real test began only when the ball was kicked and the tournament moved from speeches and guests to the pitch. For Canelo, whose name continues to draw notice whenever it appears in connection with major sporting occasions, the question is not whether he was in the room — he was — but how much of the spotlight the opening match would keep once the ceremony ended.
The opening in Mexico City set the tone for what comes next: a long tournament, a larger field and a global audience now focused on the football itself. The ceremony gave the event a high-profile start, but the story from here belongs to the matches, beginning with Mexico vs Sudáfrica and the chase for a first impression in a World Cup unlike any before it.
