The main football event — 2026 FIFA World Cup — has officially kicked off! Running from 11 June to 19 July, this tournament has already gone down in history as the biggest ever: for the first time, matches are being hosted by three countries at once (The United States, Mexico and Canada), and the number of participants has risen to an incredible 48 teams.
Instead of the usual format, we can look forward to 104 matches, a flurry of activity across different time zones and, of course, the first big surprises. Here’s a fresh round-up of the interim results, breaking news and curiosities from the first few days of the group stage.
Early results: Who has surprised us so far?
Whilst the big names are still finding their feet, there have already been some very interesting results on the pitches of North America. The league table and the leaders’ opening matches are as follows:
| Group. | Match | Result | A brief summary |
| Group A | Mexico – South Africa | 2:0 | The hosts got off to a flying start at the legendary «Azteca». |
| Group A | Republic of Korea – Czech Republic | 2:1 | South Korea scraped a victory, with Hwang In-beom emerging as the man of the match. |
| Group B | Canada – Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1:1 | A historic first point for the Canadians, but they were unable to hold on to the win. |
| Group B | Qatar v Switzerland | 1:1 | A real «Qatari miracle», with a goal in the 90+4th minute that snatched a draw. |
| Group C | Brazil v Morocco | 1:1 | The first major sensation! The Moroccans have once again shown that they are a force to be reckoned with. |
| Group C | Haiti – Scotland | 0:1 | A hard-fought battle rather than a game of attractive football — the Scots edged out the underdogs by the narrowest of margins. |
| Group D | USA v Paraguay | 4:1 | A powerful performance from the Americans in front of their home crowd. |
Logistics hell: Some are lucky, while others are «living» on a plane
The new World Cup format has forced teams to adapt to a completely new set of circumstances. Due to the vast distances between the host cities, logistics has become a sport in its own right.
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The lucky ones from Paraguay: The Paraguayan national team turned out to be the only side in the tournament to have been incredibly lucky — they will play all three of their group stage matches within a single US state: California. No long-haul flights or acclimatisation!
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Space travellers from Cape Verde: The Cape Verde national team, however, has been far less fortunate. If the team progresses successfully through the tournament, their itinerary – involving constant back-and-forth travel between the east and west coasts – could amount to almost 13,000 kilometres in the air.
Curiosities, scandals and off-pitch controversies
What sort of World Cup would it be without heated discussions behind the scenes? The first few days have already provided plenty of topics for lively debate.
A visa crisis for Iran and Ghana. The biggest scandal of the week erupted over the Iranian national team. Due to political and security concerns, the US State Department refused to grant visas to 15 members of the official Iranian delegation. Iran’s coaching staff publicly criticised FIFA for failing to keep its promises, and the team had to urgently relocate its training camp from Arizona to the Mexican city of Tijuana. A similar mishap befell the vice-captain of the Ghana national team, who was simply not allowed into Canada.
A price shock for fans: Match tickets World Cup 2026 have become a particular source of frustration for fans. Official prices range from a «reasonable» $60 to a staggering $10 990 for premium seats, thanks to FIFA’s dynamic pricing model. It has even reached the point where prosecutors in several US states have launched a formal investigation into FIFA over suspicions of artificially creating a ticket shortage and market manipulation.
We have some debuts ahead of us Erling Holland, recent major matches Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as fierce battles in the revamped play-offs. The tournament is only just getting started!
