MEXICO CITY: Mexico City is gearing up to welcome more than five million visitors for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, whose opening match will be played in the sprawling megacity, authorities said on Wednesday.

The top football tournament will be held in Mexico, the United States and Canada, marking the first time that three countries co-host the event.

Three of the 16 venues will be in the Latin American nation, with the central city of Guadalajara and northern industrial hub of Monterrey sharing Mexico’s host duties with the capital.

Eleven other venues will be in the United States and two in Canada.

Mexico’s government and city authorities are working together “to ensure that the experience is safe and smooth,” Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said at a presentation.

“More than five million people are expected to arrive” for the matches in Mexico City, which has around nine million residents and is more than 2,200 metres (7,200 feet) above sea level, she said.

The iconic Azteca Stadium, which has hosted two FIFA World Cup finals, is on track to be renovated by the time the whistle blows for the opening match on June 11, according to organisers.

More than $100 million is being invested in the stadium, its general director Felix Aguirre said, promising that it “will be ready.”

The renovation triggered controversy after the venue was renamed after the bank that funded the work. FIFA ordered the stadium to be referred to as Mexico City Stadium because of its branding rules.

Addressing security concerns in a country plagued by criminal violence, Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said 40,000 new security cameras would be acquired, bringing the total to 123,000.

“We will be the most video-surveilled city in all of the Americas,” she said.

Organisers called for a World Cup free of homophobia, racism and other attacks on civil liberties.

FIFA has repeatedly sanctioned Mexico for homophobic chanting by its fans in stadiums.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2025