The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off Thursday, June 11 at 5 PM ET with Mexico vs Germany at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. 87,000 fans inside the most-intimidating stadium in football. The first 48-team World Cup. The first three-country host tournament. Forty-eight nations, sixteen venues, thirty-nine days, one hundred four matches.
The wait is over. Here's everything you need to know in the final 27 hours before the opening whistle.
If you do nothing else in the next 27 hours, set a reminder for 5 PM ET tomorrow.
In order of urgency:
The auto-saving bracket builder takes ~5 minutes for casual fans and ~30 minutes for power users. Pick group winners, runners-up, knockout matchups, and your World Cup champion. Compare with friends, share your permalink, and track against the leaderboard. Picks lock at kickoff tomorrow.
The home-page team picker gives you a one-tap subscribe to push notifications for any of the 48 qualified teams. Kickoff pings 15 minutes before every match. Goal alerts. Full-time wrap-ups. Free.
One email per day during the tournament with the day's matches, the previous day's results, and the day's featured cornerstone read. Inline signup at the top of the home page.
Mexico vs Germany — Full Preview with predicted XIs for both 5-3-2 (Aguirre) and 4-2-3-1 (Nagelsmann), 5 decisive matchups, the historical Mexico-Germany WC record, and the model's prediction (Germany 51% / Draw 27% / Mexico 22%).
The complete streaming + TV guide breaks down every country: US English (FOX/FS1), US Spanish (Telemundo + Peacock $7.99/mo for every match), Canada (TSN/CTV), Mexico (TUDN/Azteca free), UK (BBC/ITV free).
The kickoff-eve power rankings — Spain at 21% title favorite (up from 18% pre-Rodri clearance), France at 14%, Argentina at 12%. Six material shifts since week 1.
The today's matches hub auto-refreshes every minute during play with live scores, kickoff times, and venue updates. The single page to keep open during matches.
The Wall Street Journal published the complete 48-team base camp map. The standout assignments:
Full guide: Where the 48 teams are staying — sortable + filterable, with climate index and group-stage flight miles per team.
Player — Team — Storyline — Profile
Lamine Yamal (18) — Spain — Golden Ball favorite at +400 — Profile
Kylian Mbappé (27) — France — Captain in his peak prime year — Profile
Lionel Messi (38) — Argentina — Final tournament; 3 goals from Klose's all-time record — Profile
Jude Bellingham (22) — England — Real Madrid #10 carrying England's 60-year drought — Profile
Cristiano Ronaldo (41) — Portugal — Sixth and final WC; only player to score at 5+ tournaments — Profile
Erling Haaland (25) — Norway — Debut tournament; the volume + physicality threat — Profile
Vinícius Jr. (25) — Brazil — 2024 Ballon d'Or runner-up; the "robbed" narrative — Profile
Luka Modrić (40) — Croatia — Final WC; three consecutive deep tournament runs — Profile
11 total star profiles live: also De Bruyne (Belgium), Mané (Senegal), Mitoma (Japan).
Full breakdown: Complete day-by-day schedule with kickoff times in every time zone.
As of June 10, the major roster confirmations:
Final pre-tournament title probabilities from the consensus prediction model (Spain leads by a clear margin since the Rodri clearance):
Most-likely final: Spain vs France (model's modal outcome) at MetLife Stadium on July 19.
5 PM Eastern. Thursday. Estadio Azteca. Mexico vs Germany.
Set the alarm. Build the bracket. Pick the team. The 2026 World Cup starts tomorrow.
*Related: Mexico vs Germany opener — full preview · Kickoff-eve power rankings · Complete schedule · Streaming + TV guide · Base camps guide · Round of 32 format explained*