The games are played in 16 cities, 11 in the U.S., 2 in Canada and 3 in Mexico.
There are 104 games to be played, with 48 national teams competing.
At the end though, there’s just one winning team.
So what’s the plan? How do they plan do it? How are the games organized?
The games are divided into phases: the Group Stage, Round of 32, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Third Place Match and the Final Game.
GROUP STAGE (June 11th- June 27th) The 48 teams are divided into 12 groups. Each group has 4 national teams. Each of these four national teams plays each of the other 3. A team receives 3 points for a win, 1 for a tie and zero for a loss. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams of the group proceed to the next stage, along with the 8 highest-scoring 3rd place teams among all groups.
Mexico is in Group A, along with South Africa, South Korea and the Czech Republic. So the Mexico team has to play each of those other 3 teams in the Group Stage, then the calculations are made.
Canada is in Group B, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar and Switzerland.
The U.S.A. is in Group D, with Paraguay, Australia and Turkey.
ROUND OF 32 (June 28th-July 3rd)
At the beginning of this stage there are 32 teams. In this stage it’s single elimination, lose one game and your team is out.
ROUND OF 16 (July 4th to July 7th)
There are now 16 teams, single elimination again.
QUARTERFINALS (July 9th to July 11th)
There are 8 teams, single elimination.
SEMIFINALS (July 14th, 15th) Four teams. Two games.
THIRD PLACE MATCH (July 18th) The two teams who lost in the Semifinals play each other, the winner is in third place of the World Cup.
WORLD CUP FINAL GAME (July 19th, East Rutherford, New Jersey) The two teams who won the semifinals play each other. The losing team is in second place. The winning team wins the 2026 World Cup.
MetLife Stadium, known in World Cup as “New York New Jersey Stadium” Planned Venue of Final Game of World Cup Source: Anthony Quintano
Click here for the entire schedule and where to watch.
This is the biggest one yet, with 48 national teams competing in 104 games, played in 16 cities in three countries (the U.S., Canada and Mexico).
Here are the 48 teams competing, organized within their international conferences:
AFC (Asian Football Confederation) : Australia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan.
CAF (Confederation of African Football) : Algeria, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo (capital city Kinshasa), Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia.
CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football): Canada, Curaçao (a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands), Haiti, Mexico, Panama, United States.
UEFA (Union of European Football Associations): Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey. (Note that England and Scotland compete as separate teams, not as the United Kingdom).
All those 48 teams compete in 16 different venues. Here are the venues:
U.S.A. : New York metroplex (East Rutherford, New Jersey); Dallas metro (Arlington); Kansas City, Missouri; Houston; Atlanta; Los Angeles metro (Inglewood); Seattle; San Franciso Bay Area (Santa Clara); Philadelphia; Miami metro (Miami Gardens); Boston metro (Foxborough).
Canada: Vancouver; Toronto.
Mexico: Mexico City; Monterrey metro (Guadalupe); Guadalajara metro (Zapopan).
There are to be 48 national teams competing, an increase from 32 in the last World Cup in 2022. There are 104 games scheduled.
Before and during the World Cup, each national team has a base camp in North America where they stay and train.
For example, the base camp of the Algeria team is Lawrence, Kansas.
Of the 48 base camps, 39 of them are located in the United States, 2 in Canada and 7 in Mexico .
The Canada team’s base camp is in Vancouver, while the Panama team is in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The Mexico team’s base camp is in Mexico City. The South Africa team’s base camp is in the state of Hidalgo in Mexico. The Tunisia team is in the Monterrey metroplex. The Uruguay team’s base camp is in Playa del Carmen in Quintana Roo. Both the Colombia team and the South Korea team are based in the Guadalajara metroplex, with a hotel in Guadalajara and a training site in Zapopan. The Iran team’s base camp is in Tijuana, Baja California.
Here is the official soccer ball of the 2026 World Cup, the Adidas Trionda:
The Mexican government is requiring all cellphone users, including foreigners living in Mexico, to register their cellphone numbers with the government.
It’s estimated that there are 127 million active cellphone numbers in Mexico. Under the new law, each individual can register up to 10 cellphone numbers in his own name.
The argument in favor of this law is that it will combat crimes such as extortion, kidnapping and fraud, by linking each cellphone number to a verified identity. And it’s true that phone fraud is a big problem in Mexico. According to the Expat Insurance website, “In the first half of 2025 alone, over 6,000 people reported being victims of telephone extortion.”
On the other hand, there are questions about privacy and data security.
A Mexican citizen registering his cellphone must provide his CURP (Clave Única de Registro de Población), an already-existing population registry code, and a photo ID (for example Voter ID or passport).
[The CURP code uses an 18-character code utilizing both letters and numbers.]
A foreigner residing in Mexico who has a CURP number would use that along with his passport or Mexican residency permit.
A foreigner in Mexico without a CURP is required to register, but the mechanism for registering is unclear.
Cellphone registration has been tried before. From Expat Insurance: “This is actually Mexico’s third attempt at mandatory cell phone registration. The previous two failed spectacularly: Mexico’s first cell phone registry…was launched in 2008…The database was hacked and sold on the black market…Instead of helping police catch criminals, it became a shopping list for extortionists who now had verified names and addresses linked to phone numbers. RENAUT [the cellphone registry] was quietly abandoned in 2012…In 2021, the government tried again…This version required biometric data, including fingerprints and facial recognition. Digital rights organization R3D and others challenged the law, and in 2022, Mexico’s Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional, citing privacy violations.”
The R3D organization opposes the registration for three reasons: 1. It can be a database for tracking citizens. 2.There are data security risks. 3. There is no evidence that such registration reduces crime.
Expat Insurance recommends that foreign tourists simply use an international eSIM service or keep your home country cellphone plan. See the article on the subject here.
Mexico Daily Post has an interesting article about Carlos Slim, the richest man in Mexico. Here’s what it says: “While millions of users continue to refuse to register their phone lines using their CURP, reports are now emerging that Carlos Slim may be seeking mechanisms to prevent his customers from losing service. Concerns are mounting because Telcel represents one of the largest and most important telecommunications companies in Latin America, and the impact of this refusal to register is already beginning to be felt.”
But here’s what the article says: “A California man died after being shot during a clash between Mexican soldiers and armed assailants in San José del Cabo.” That gives a whole different impression, doesn’t it?
It also says that “Four civilians and two soldiers were wounded, including a 14-year-old boy and a 65-year-old woman with serious injuries.”
Los Cabos is located in the peninsula of Baja California, in the state of Baja California Sur. The Los Cabos municipality include the cities of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas.
Left: Baja California Sur state in red. Source: TUBS Right: Los Cabos municipality in black. Source: Battroid
Here is a report on the story from the Ackerman Group: “A 31-year-old man from California was killed just after midnight on Sunday [May 31] after being caught in the crossfire between soldiers and cartel gunmen in the popular beach resort city of San Jose del Cabo at the southernmost end of the northwestern state of Baja California Sur.”
“The shootout erupted after a military patrol observed a group of heavily armed gunmen in several vehicles on the La Paz-San Jose del Cabo highway (Federal Highway 1) in the Las Veredas neighborhood in northern San Jose del Cabo. Las Veredas is a lower-income residential area located on the opposite side of the highway from Los Cabos International Airport.”
“Two soldiers and five other bystanders were also wounded in the gunfire.”
“The American was transported to a local hospital where he died a few hours later.”
“It would appear the American and the five wounded bystanders were traveling on the highway and became inadvertently caught up in the shootout. The gunmen managed to flee the scene.”
“The authorities seized four long guns, two tactical vests, a radio and over a dozen metallic tire spikes, which are routinely used by fleeing cartel operatives to prevent pursuit by military and police.”
At the bottom of that page it says U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Mexico and if you click that you go to a page which actually has links to information pages about the U.S. embassy in Mexico City and the 9 U.S. consulates on Mexican soil.
Now, back to the Mexico advisory page here. It has general information and also breaks Mexico down into four categories: Level: 4 – Do not travel (six states) Level: 3 – Reconsider travel (six states) Level: 2 – Exercise increased caution (16 states and Mexico City) Level: 1 – Exercise normal precautions (2 states)
There’s also a color-coded map that accompanies it.
If you are planning to travel in Mexico, or even considering it, I recommend you look over the State Department’s material.
Sheinbaum spoke to a live audience of 130,000 (plus many others throughout Mexico watching live). You can read the speech in Spanish here. The pictures portray a festive occasion.
The speech is valuable because it tells us much about how she views her presidency and what is important to her.
Sheinbaum’s speech was a defense of her presidency and the Fourth Transformation movement.
The idea of the Fourth Transformation is that there were 3 previous transformations in Mexican history: 1) Independence (1810-1821), 2) The Reform Wars (1857-1861), 3) The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Beginning with President AMLO (2018-2024) and now with President Sheinbaum is the Fourth Transformation.
Here’s how she began the speech: “Female Mexicans and Male and Generic Mexicans, Two years ago, nearly 36 million female Mexicans and male/generic Mexicans deposited in the ballot boxes their hope, their confidence and their decision to continue advancing by the way of the Transformation begun by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. With this backing, I assumed the honor and the enormous responsibility of heading up the continuity of the Fourth Transformation of the Public Life. A mandate, born of the popular will, of the conviction of millions of female Mexicans and male/generic Mexicans who said with clarity that ‘we should not return to the past of privileges, corruption, decadence and the abandonment of the fatherland and of the people’. And that day an accomplishment occurred which will be left engraved forever in the memory of our nation: for the first time, a woman arrived to the presidency of the Republic. It is the victory of the women of Mexico, but, most importantly, the victory of a people who decided to continue making history. Two years after that magnificent and historic triumph of the people, I appear again to give an account, as I have done, in front of the people and in the public plaza.”
President Sheinbaum proceeded to lay out a long list of accomplishments of her 20 months as president.
She spoke of government being conducted honorably, without salary increases for high-ranking government officials, reduction of the budget and increase in tax collection without a tax increase.
She spoke of her communication with the people: “I travel in the country three times a week to give an account, to listen and to directly attend to the people.” She mentioned her 409 morning press conferences and said that the government hadn’t acquired “fancy vehicles or eccentricities for the government”.
She said that “Here there is no space for corruption, nor privileges, nor excesses that for decades offended the people of Mexico.”
Sheinbaum said of her and her government “we walk with the people, we listen to the people, we give account to the people and we govern obeying the people. We do not arrive to the government to serve ourselves, we arrive to put power to the service of the people and of the nation.”
She said that the essence of the Fourth Transformation is “to end a regime that governed for the elite, for the oligarchy, and consolidate a government of the people.”
She was very hard on pre-MORENA governments in what she calls the “neoliberal” period. According to Sheinbaum, the neoliberal governments lasted 36 years, which would be 1976-2018, the latter year being the year AMLO became president.
She specifically criticized Presidents Zedillo (1994-2000) of the PRI and Fox (2000-2006) and Calderon (2006-2012) of the PAN.
Sheinbaum slammed conservatism and quoted Carlos Monsivais, who said that “the true doctrine of conservatism is the hypocrisy“. “And, in effect“, said Sheinbaum, “they are hypocrites“.
She criticized U.S. interference during the neoliberal period. Now however, said Sheinbaum, “In Mexico the people govern.”
And now, said Sheinbaum, “in contrast with the past…the power of the state is not used against the people...”
“The model of Mexican Humanism and the Moral Economy strengthen the distribution of wealth and the development of the economy from below. We do not leave everything to the market, nor do we trust that the benefits arrive by themselves to the people. We promote a State that boosts development, guarantees social rights, promotes strategic sectors and puts the well-beging of the majorities at the center of the public decisions.”
She said that “Even with the difficult international circumstances, marked by the change in U.S. tariff policy and the war in Iran, the Mexican economy remains stable and advanced.”
She boasted of growth in foreign investment, low unemployment, job creation, lowering inflation, low interest rates, stable fuel prices, lowering grocery prices, a strong peso, decrease in the debt in relation to GDP, growth in exports and sales, and a 10.2% increase in tourism.
She spoke of various pensions that Mexicans receive, agricultural subsidies, educational scholarships, teacher raises, 29 new hospitals, free medicines and the government’s objective to construct a universal system of free health care in 2027.
President Sheinbaum said they are “recovering the energy sovereignty of the nation” by rescuing PEMEX (government oil company) and the Federal Electricity Commission which are now “true public businesses in the service of the people of Mexico“.
The government she said is working on Mexican highways and bridges and reviving passenger train service.
And there was more, a long list of accomplishments.
But despite all these acomplishments Sheinbaum warned that Mexico is under attack. By whom?
Here’s what she said: “For several month we have been the object of a media offensive and of millionaire campaigns on social media. It is no coincidence. It is no coincidence. Behind them are the conservative national and international sectors who will never accept that Mexico recover its dignity and decide to fully exercise its independence.”
So, once again, it’s the conservatives!
“We understand that today the forms of destabilization promoted by the International Right-Wing Groups have changed a little, but not in the purpose. Now they do not always impose by the force, as in the past. Today they can express themselves through digital campaigns, disinformation operations which seek to erode governments and movements. They can operate from global platforms, where the flow of information is concentrated in very few hands, with the capacity to influence through algorithms unprecedented in the history of humanity.”
How do these right-wingers operate?
“Through means of paid accounts and bots, they articulate the interests of the foreign and national conservative sectors who seek to recover lost privileges or stop the Transformation…”
She spoke about the deaths of two American agents in Mexico and that foreign agents can’t be doing unathorized work in the country.
Then she got into the Sinaloa Ten (3 of whom are already in U.S. custody): “A few days later, something even more grave occurred: an office of the U.S. Department of Justice urgently requested the detention for extradition of 10 Mexican citizens, – among them a governor, a mayor and a sitting senator – without presenting public proofs that back up this request. …And thus we must ask, the legitimate question emerges, Is it really a legitimate interest, genuinely to help Mexico? Is it really a legitimate interest to fight organized crime? Or maybe we are seeing how sectors of the American far right utilizes our country to position itself for the elections of 2026? Or are they attempting to influence the elections of 2027 in our country. These are not rhetorical questions. Mexico is nobody’s pinata !”
“Therefore, I call the people of Mexico to attention. When from abroad it is declaredwho is guilty and who is not, when they seek to pressure our institutions from abroad, when it is normalized the idea ‘that another country can intervene in affairs that can only correspond to Mexicans’ we are now not talking about cooperation but we are talking about interference.”
To summarize, President Sheinbaum set forth a long list of accomplishments, warned of US intervention (including extradition requests for Mexican politicians) and warned several times of conservatives, both foreign and domestic.
The 2026 World Cup is almost upon us. It’s scheduled to begin on June 11th and end on July 19th.
The World Cup is the international soccer championship in which national teams compete. It’s held every 4 years.
For the first time ever, the World Cup is to be hosted by three countries: the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Mexico has hosted the World Cup twice before (1970 and 1986) and the U.S. once before, in 1994.
In 2002, the World Cup was jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea. Every other previous World Cup was hosted by only one country.
But in 2026 three countries are hosting it.
The games are to be held in 16 cities.
Here is a list of the 16 cities:
U.S.: New York metroplex (East Rutherford, New Jersey); Dallas metro (Arlington); Kansas City, Missouri; Houston; Atlanta; Los Angeles metro (Inglewood); Seattle; San Franciso Bay Area (Santa Clara); Philadelphia; Miami metro (Miami Gardens); Boston metro (Foxborough).
Canada: Vancouver; Toronto.
Mexico: Mexico City; Monterrey metro (Guadalupe); Guadalajara metro (Zapopan).
There are to be 48 national teams competing, an increase from 32 in the last World Cup in 2022. There are 104 games scheduled.
Here’s a map of the 16 venues:
Venues for 2026 World Cup Games. Source: Axios Visuals
There are 104 games to be played, with 48 national teams competing. That’s an increase from 32 in the last World Cup in 2022.
There are three opening ceremonies, one for each of the host countries: 1. Mexico City, Mexico – June 11th 2. Toronto, Canada – June 12th 3. Los Angeles, U.S.A. – June 12th
The international governing body for soccer is FIFA, a French acronym for Fédération Internationale de Football Association. That’s why you may see the tournament referred to as the 2026 FIFA World Cup or as FIFA World Cup 26. In Spanish it’s the Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026.
Mexico City is one of the venues for the upcoming Soccer World Cup. The opening ceremony is scheduled to be held in the Estadio Azteca/Estadio Banorte/Estadio Ciudad de México.
World Cup games are scheduled to be played in that stadium on June 11th, June 17th, June 24th, June 30th, and July 5th.
On November 7th, 2025, the Jefade Gobierno of Mexico City, Clara Brugada, introduced the axolotl as the Mexico City mascot for the World Cup.
FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, has 3 mascots for the World Cup: Maple the Moose for Canada, Clutch the Bald Eagle for the United States, and Zayu the Jaguar for Mexico.
But the axolotl is only the mascot for Mexico City, sponsored by the government of Mexico City.
Here’s a picture of the axolotl mascot with the kids:
From The Guardian: “The giant purple axolotl peered up at Manuel Martínez from the black bitumen of the street. It was the second such painting of the rare amphibian he had walked past that morning. In recent weeks he had seen axolotl murals pop up in neighbourhoods across Mexico City…The axolotl, a kind of salamander native to the ancient waterways of Mexico City, is the capital’s mascot for this summer’s Fifa World Cup. And these days it is everywhere: painted on walls, plastered on trains, crawling up lamp-posts, swimming across traffic barriers. Following in its trail is an apparent effort to beautify the city before the tournament by painting much of the capital’s infrastructure purple: pedestrian overpasses, building facades, walls, bridges, banisters, footpaths – all of them turned lilac, lavender or plum.”
It’s been called the “axolotlisation” of Mexico City and it’s been criticized: “But many residents are unhappy with what has been called the ‘axolotlisation’ of the metropolis, with some complaining that limited state resources could be better utilised elsewhere, particularly in a city filled with potholes, crooked pavements and flooding streets. ‘In emblematic places like the Zócalo or Azteca Stadium it’s fine but in other places it’s just a waste of resources,’ said 63-year-old Sergio Rivera, standing in front of a giant pink axolotl in the capital’s sprawling central plaza. ‘There are other priorities.’ “
The aforementioned Manuel Martinez [start of first Guardian quotation) had this to say: “It’s a waste of money. You could use that budget for fixing potholes, traffic lights, security cameras. They’re spending on something that doesn’t benefit us at all – it’s just for tourists.”
Mayor Brugada, on the other hand, staunchly defends it. Quoth Brugada, “Some have said, out of prejudice or classism, that we are ‘axolotlising’ the city. If axolotlising means filling what was once grey with colour, transforming public spaces and guaranteeing access to services for the benefit of thousands of people, then yes, we are axolotlising the capital.”
Mayor Brugada said this to reporters, according to The Guardian, “at the reopening of a light rail service (renamed the Axolotl).”
President Claudia Sheinbaum, herself a previous Mexico City Mayor, weighed in on the issue: “All governments paint pedestrian bridges, all of them. Clara decided that to beautify the city she was going to use the colour lilac. And now there’s a lot of criticism. I don’t see why. Besides, the bridges look very pretty.”
I think President Sheinbaum has a valid point. Capital cities ought to look good. Why not have special decorations for the World Cup?
More recently, a rumor emerged that FIFA (soccer’s international governing body) rejected the use of the axolotl as a Mexico City World Cup mascot, was fining Mexico City for it, and ordering the city to remove this axolotl from in front of the Estadio Azteca/Banorte, to be replaced by Zayu the Jaguar.
But it turned out that wasn’t true, and the Axolotl is still the mascot of Mexico City. As for the statue in front of the stadium it was moved temporarily and is being returned.
I close with this happy photo of Mayor Clara Brugada and the Axolotl Mascot of Mexico City:
On May 28th the opposition PAN party pulled off a stunt in the Mexican Senate which brought together two ongoing issues relating to crime and security.
Left: Maru Campos, Governor of Chihuahua, Source: flickr.com Right: Ruben Rocha, Governor of Sinaloa (on leave). Source: Presidency of Mexico
On the 28th of May, in the Mexican Senate, 22 senators of the PAN party wore t-shirts reading “Yo con Maru”, meaning “I support Maru” (governor of Chihuahua). They came to the podium, also bringing 67 t-shirts in the color of the ruling MORENA party, which read “Yo con Rocha” meaning “I support Ruben Rocha” (the most prominent indictee).
PAN Senator and coordinator Ricardo Anaya (at the podium) asked “Who would come up here and put on a ‘Yo Con Rocha’ t-shirt?'” and “Seriously, nobody? No senator of MORENA wants to put on the ‘Yo Con Rocha’ t-shirt?” Only two MORENA senators accepted a Rocha t-shirt but nobody put one on.
Did you know that Lupita Nyong’o was actually born in Mexico, and has Mexican citizenship? I guess the name “Lupita” should have tipped us off, right?
Lupita Nyong’o was born in 1983 in Mexico City. Her father, Anyang’ Nyong’o, was a politician from Kenya and at the time a visiting professor in Mexico. Her mother is Dorothy Ogada Buyu. Both her parents were of the Luo ethnicity, and so was Barack Obama Sr., father of U.S. President Barack Obama Jr. (Small world, isn’t it?)
Lupita Amondi Nyong’o Buyu is the way to write her name in Spanish style, with the two surnames.
The future actress was named “Lupita” because they were living in Mexico, though they soon moved back to Kenya. However, when Lupita was 16, she was sent back to Mexico for 7 months (to Taxco, Guerrero), to learn Spanish.
Lupita Nyong’o identifies as Kenyan-Mexican. In 2024 she also became a U.S. citizen, just in time to vote for Kamala Harris.
So she is a citizen of Kenya, Mexico and the United States.
Countries in red are countries in which Lupita Nyong’o is a citizen: U.S., Mexico, Kenya Source: mapchart.net
In the Odyssey movie, Lupita Nyong’o is portraying both Helen of Troy and Helen’s half-sister Clytemnestra.
In an interview with Elle magazine, the actress said that when she accepted the role of Helen of Troy “I really had no idea what The Odyssey was. I was like, ‘Oh, snap, I don’t know the first thing about this.’ So it was a crash course. I picked up the books and read them immediately. I have this film to thank for my Greek mythological education.”
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