The 2026 FIFA World Cup opened Thursday with Mexico facing South Africa in Mexico City, and the first jolt of the tournament came as much from the music as the match. Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla all performed before Mexico’s kickoff game.
That was the point. In a tournament that runs from June 11 to July 19 and is expected to draw about 5 billion viewers, the opening match was built to do more than start the scoreboard. For fans searching for the World Cup halftime show, the answer was already on stage before a ball was kicked: each country’s kickoff match is getting its own pregame program.
Mexico’s opener began at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 11, while South Korea met Czechia in Guadalajara later that night at 10 p.m. ET. Canada opened against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto on Friday at 3 p.m. ET, and the United States played Paraguay in Los Angeles at 9 p.m. ET. The tournament’s first day made clear that the World Cup’s early rounds are being staged as both a sporting event and a global entertainment platform.
That mix is where the friction sits. The World Cup is supposed to be the rare competition where national teams from across the globe chase the sport’s biggest prize, yet celebrity attention and brand attention are now part of the opening act. With four to six group-stage matches scheduled every day from June 13 to 27, the soccer will still set the pace, but the pregame spotlight is already competing for it.
The next stretch of the tournament will decide how much that balance holds. Sixteen teams will be sent home after June 27, the knockout rounds run from June 28 to July 15, and the final is set for MetLife Stadium in the New York/New Jersey area at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 19. The remaining question is not whether the show will travel with the matches — it already has — but which countries beyond Mexico will get the same celebrity-scale curtain raiser when their turn arrives.
