FIFA World Cup FAQs: What time is opening ceremony? How does the format work?

The time has come!

At 21:00 (SA time) on Thursday night, the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off with hosts Mexico taking on Bafana Bafana in front of 85 000 fans at Mexico City Stadium.

It is the first time that South Africa will appear at the tournament since hosting the 2010 edition, 16 years ago, and it’s safe to say that the excitement in the Republic is sky high.

For those who feel a little out the loop, News24 has you covered.

All fixtures, results, standings and the latest news from the tournament can be found here in our dedicated World Cup Hub.

It would also be helpful to bookmark our rolling FIFA World Cup live blog where we will be bringing you all news and views in real time where our senior soccer writer, Njabulo Ngidi, will be following Bafana Bafana every step of the way on the ground in Mexico and the USA.

We also thought it would be helpful to, in this article, provide some answers to some of the most common questions we have been getting from our readers ahead of the tournament?

Who are the actual hosts? Is it Mexico or the USA?

The tournament is being jointly hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada. There are 16 host cities - 11 in the USA, three in Mexico and just two in Canada. Two of Bafana’s matches - against Mexico and South Korea (25 June) will be hosted in Mexico while just one - against Czechia (18 June) - will be hosted in the USA in Atlanta.

How does the new format work?

For the first time, the World Cup has been expanded to a 48-team competition: 12 pools of four teams each. The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the knockouts, along with the eight best third-place finishers from the 12 groups. It means that a total of 32 teams will progress through to the playoffs, which is good news