Mexico City prepares to welcome millions for 2026 World Cup

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, the authorities said on May 7.

The top football tournament will be held in the United States, Mexico 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 the 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 above sea level, she said.

The iconic Azteca Stadium, one of the host stadiums for the 1970 and 1986 World Cup Finals, is on track to be renovated by the time the whistle blows for the opening match on June 11, according to the organisers.

More than US$100 million (S$129.7 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