FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ would be a moment of joy and celebration, and sent a message of unity, as he addressed the world’s media at the opening press conference on the eve of the game. The FIFA President thanked the governments of the three host nations, Canada, Mexico and the United States, as well as the 48 participating teams and their fans, and emphasised that revenues from the tournament would be reinvested in developing football in the 211 FIFA Member Associations.

Mexico and South Africa kick off the 23rd edition of the tournament on Thursday, 11 June 2026, when they meet at the Mexico City Stadium, which Mr Infantino described as a cathedral of football. The tournament, which ends on Sunday, 19 July 2026 with the final in New York New Jersey, will be the first to feature 48 teams and be hosted by three countries.

“It’s a moment of joy, it’s a moment of celebration, it’s a moment of happiness, and I am very, very happy to see (the) ball rolling in a few hours’ time,” he said, holding up the Trionda, the tournament’s official match ball. “And this (FIFA World Cu trophy being awarded in a few weeks’ time – the most iconic trophy in the world, the most incredible cup. A trophy and a ball that make people dream all over the world.”

The Mexico City Stadium will become the first in the tournament’s history to host the opening match three times, having also staged the fixture in 1970 and 1986. “This is a special stadium. It’s an iconic stadium. It’s the stadium where Pelé and (Diego) Maradona won the (FIFA) World Cup,” he said. “As FIFA President, it is a unique emotion for me to be in that stadium inaugurating the 23rd (FIFA) World Cup...I think this stadium is blessed by the Gods of football. It has seen incredible things, and it can now host the third inaugural match of a (FIFA) World Cup, the first to be organised across three countries.”

The FIFA President extended his thanks to the participating teams, coaches, players, officials and staff involved in this edition of the FIFA World Cup and as well as the fans.

“The fans who are here – six and a half million, seven million, we don’t know exactly – will be in the stadiums for the matches. There will be many more millions in the fan zones, fan fests, watch parties, not just in the three host countries but everywhere in the world, and the fans make the (FIFA) World Cup, of course, what it is,” the FIFA President said. He would add that all fans, wherever they were watching, want “to enjoy a moment of happiness, a moment where their day-to-day problems can be left aside, and they can just enjoy the game and cry if their team loses or cry if their team wins, and just feel this emotion in community with others”.

Those 48 teams include IR Iran, whose participation was singled out by the FIFA President.

“I am very happy because I went myself to see the Iranian team in Türkiye, in Antalya, in March of this year, and when people were saying it would be impossible for Iran to come to the (FIFA) World Cup,” he said. “I told them and I promised them that they would come, and if I had to go with a bus to Tehran and drive them here, I would do that. Their answer was, ‘We’ll take the bus ourselves and drive it if need be. We qualified and we want to play’. This is the spirit of football. Of course, there are challenges. Of course, it’s not easy. I don’t know who else would have been able to ensure that in these circumstances, which we cannot influence, obviously, in these circumstances, Iran could come and play.”

On the issues of ticket prices, the FIFA President said demand has been unprecedented with entry and average prices lower than for the play-off stages of any American sport. And he emphasised that revenues from the tournament would be reinvested into developing football across the 211 FIFA Member Associations.

“It’s thanks to the fact that we are investing – especially from the revenues of the (FIFA) World Cup into all these countries – that football can grow all over the world and the dream can be alive all over the world,” he said. “For me, as FIFA President, it is important that we invest in all the countries where nobody wants to invest. Who is investing in South Sudan? Who is investing in Sierra Leone? Who is investing in Bhutan, or in East Timor or in Vanuatu? Nobody. We do it and we do it thanks to the revenues that we generate.”

Thanking the media for “relating, for transporting, for bringing to the homes of people the emotion of the game”, the FIFA President expressed hope that French journalist Christophe Gleizes, who has been detained in Algeria for over one year, could be released in time to attend the tournament. “And of course, he has an accreditation and, of course, he has his seat here for him,” he said.

The FIFA President also took the opportunity to pay tribute to Argentinian journalist Enrique Macaya Márquez who will be attending his 18th FIFA World Cup, having covered every edition of the tournament since 1958.