By Kunle Solaja, Special Correspondent, en route to Canada and the US

The long-awaited FIFA World Cup 2026 finally gets underway on Thursday with host nation Mexico taking on South Africa in the opening match of football’s biggest tournament at the Mexico City Stadium.

The curtain-raiser, scheduled for 3:00 p.m. local time, rekindles memories of the opening game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa when the two nations played out a 1-1 draw in Johannesburg.

Interestingly, Mexico’s current head coach, Javier Aguirre, was also in charge of El Tri during that encounter 16 years ago and will be hoping to guide the hosts to a winning start before their home supporters.

The second match of the opening day will see the Republic face Czechia at the Guadalajara Stadium at 10:00 p.m. local time.

The encounter marks the first-ever competitive meeting between the two countries. While the Republic are making their 12th appearance at the FIFA World Cup, Czechia return to the global stage for the first time in two decades.

Beyond the action on the pitch, the opening day will also witness history on the touchline.

South Africa’s Belgian coach Hugo Broos, aged 74 years and 62 days, is set to become the oldest head coach ever to manage a team at a FIFA World Cup. However, the record will stand for only a few hours before Czechia’s Miroslav Koubek, aged 74 years and 283 days, takes charge of his side later in the evening.

Even that milestone is expected to be short-lived. Curacao coach Dick Advocaat, who is 78 years and 260 days old, is poised to become the oldest coach in World Cup history when his team faces Germany later in the competition.

Meanwhile, preparations continue for the next round of fixtures, with official pre-match press conferences scheduled for Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto, while the United States and Paraguay will address the media in Los Angeles ahead of their opening matches.

As part of the tournament’s innovations, FIFA is also introducing a new fan-focused pre-match ceremony designed to enhance the stadium experience. The 360-degree presentation will feature giant national flags, centre-circle displays and interactive visual elements aimed at engaging supporters from every corner of the stadium.

The FIFA World Cup 2026, the first edition to feature 48 teams and be hosted by three countries, promises a month-long celebration of football across North America, with millions of fans around the world turning their attention to Mexico, Canada and the United States as the race for global glory begins.

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The World Cup will kick off on Thursday under familiar North American summer threats: extreme heat, suffocating humidity and thunderstorms capable of ​delaying matches with little warning.

Seasonal forecasts indicate above-normal temperatures across large parts of the United States, while moisture flowing north from the Gulf ‌of Mexico could fuel thunderstorms and severe weather during the opening weeks of the tournament.

While conditions for individual matches cannot be predicted this far ahead, sports scientists say there are clear weather-related risks facing a summer World Cup spanning Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The key measure is not air temperature alone but wet-bulb globe temperature, which incorporates heat, humidity, sunlight and wind to ​estimate heat stress on the body.

World Weather Attribution has warned that roughly a quarter of matches could be played in conditions that exceed recommended ​safety limits.

INTERNAL HEAT CHALLENGE

Chris Minson, a physiology professor and co-director of the Exercise and Environmental Physiology Labs at the University of ⁠Oregon, said elite players generate enormous internal heat even before the weather is considered.

“Seventy-five percent of all the energy that we utilise during exercise gets converted to ​heat,” Minson told Reuters. “Only about 25% goes to actually doing the exercise.”

In hot, sunny or humid conditions, the body’s normal cooling system begins to struggle. Humidity is a ​particular concern, since sweat cools the body only when it evaporates.

“One of the hardest things for us is when the humidity is very high,” Minson said.

High-humidity World Cup venues include Houston, Miami, Dallas and Monterrey.

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE

Climate change has increased the likelihood of temperatures high enough to affect player performance at 97 of the 104 tournament matches, according to new research ​from Climate Central.

The biggest such increase is projected for the June 26 group-stage match between Uruguay and Spain in Guadalajara, where researchers estimated a 70% chance of ​performance-impairing heat – 37 percentage points higher than it would have been without climate change.

Ryan Calsbeek, a biological sciences professor at Dartmouth College who studies how body type affects athletic performance in ‌different climates, ⁠said heat and humidity could influence not only player welfare but the pace and style of matches.

“Higher temperature, higher humidity is likely to slow games down,” he said. “When athletes have to perform for a very long time, they’re just not going to be able to balance the explosive power of their fast-twitch efforts with the more aerobic long-term efforts of a 90-plus minute game in the heat and humidity.”

Nearly half of all matches face at least a 50% chance of temperatures exceeding 28 degrees ​Celsius (82.4 degrees Fahrenheit) — a threshold linked to declines ​in sprinting, distance covered and recovery ⁠time.

Calsbeek said Mexico City’s altitude – some 2,240 meters (7,350 ft) above sea level – could also prove significant, particularly for those arriving from lower elevations without time to acclimatise. The city is set to host five matches.

FIFA has said every match at the World ​Cup will include a three-minute hydration break in each half, while scheduling decisions took into account factors including average ​temperatures, travel, rest days, ⁠medical planning and cooling infrastructure.

SAFETY PROTOCOLS QUESTIONED

Several venues feature retractable roofs or climate-control systems, and tournament regulations allow matches to be delayed, suspended, rescheduled or relocated for health, safety or security reasons, including severe weather.

Minson said FIFA should mandate interventions when the wet-bulb globe temperature reaches 26C and should consider postponing matches around 28C to 30C.

Minson also called for ⁠six-minute cooling ​breaks, shaded cooling areas, emergency ice baths and longer half-times when conditions warranted.

“If you have a player ​who seems to be having some delirium or not thinking straight, or collapses on the field, you need to cool them down immediately,” he said.

For FIFA, the tournament is a logistical showpiece. For players, ​coaches and scientists, it may also be a test of how football adapts to a hotter future.

-Reuters

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Iran threatened to halt its matches at the World Cup if unauthorised flags are displayed or slogans targeting the national team are ​chanted at stadiums, Iranian media reported, citing Sports Minister Ahmad ‌Donyamali, following criticism of the team’s presence at the tournament.

The World Cup begins on Thursday, with Iran opening their Group G campaign against New Zealand in Los ​Angeles on June 15. They next face Belgium at the same ​venue on June 21 before taking on Egypt in Seattle ⁠on June 26.

“We have informed FIFA that if unofficial flags are ​brought or slogans against the national team are chanted in the stadiums ​where Iran plays in the World Cup, the team manager will definitely be responsible for stopping the match,” Donyamali said on Tuesday, according to Iranian media.

“We have ​been assured that no disruptive incidents will occur in the stadium during ​the match against Egypt.”

Iran and Egypt’s football associations had previously urged FIFA to prevent ‌any ⁠LGBTQ+ Pride-related activities during the Seattle match. The fixture had been designated by local organisers as a “Pride Match” to coincide with Seattle’s Pride weekend.

In April, protesters gathered outside the FIFA Congress in Vancouver and called for Iran ​to be banned from ​the tournament, ⁠saying the team represents the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rather than the Iranian people.

The Iranian team has also faced organisational ​challenges, with Iran’s football federation saying its ticket allocation was ​withdrawn days ⁠before the tournament, leaving supporters who had already made travel plans unable to attend their team’s matches.

The team, currently training in Tijuana, Mexico, will ⁠be able ​to enter the U.S. the day before each ​match, the Department of Homeland Security said, amid a conflict that has added a geopolitical dimension to ​the tournament.

-Reuters

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