As the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off its opening match Thursday in Mexico City, the day unfolded as a study of stark contrasts: a raucous, celebratory opening ceremony inside the iconic Estadio Azteca was overshadowed by violent clashes between protesters and security forces, and dangerous overcrowding at the city’s central official fan zone.
A venue steeped in World Cup history, Estadio Azteca – recently renovated to modernize its century-old infrastructure – earned its place as the tournament’s curtain-raiser host, having hosted the sport’s biggest final in both 1970 and 1986. Thursday’s opening matchup between co-host nation Mexico and South Africa was preceded by a star-studded performance that had the 80,000-person crowd on their feet.
Colombian pop icon Shakira, a longstanding fixture of World Cup opening ceremonies stretching back decades, shared the stage with Nigerian afrobeats superstar Burna Boy to deliver the tournament’s official anthem “Dai Dai”. Dancers swirled around a towering inflatable replica of the World Cup trophy while bursts of fireworks lit up the sky above the pitch, building energy to a fever pitch ahead of kickoff. For fans inside the stadium, the atmosphere delivered exactly the festive experience they had traveled for.
“It’s already a party in Mexico,” 40-year-old supporter Ingrid Orozco told Agence France-Presse. Nineteen-year-old Gustavo Ramirez echoed the excitement, saying simply: “It’s amazing.” That celebration only grew after the final whistle, as Mexico secured a dominant 2-0 victory over South Africa, which finished the match down to nine players after two red cards.
But just miles from the stadium’s celebrations, chaos erupted across the capital. At the Zocalo plaza official fan zone, thousands of fans converged to watch the match on a giant screen, only to face dangerous crushes at entry points. Metal barriers, installed days earlier to block protesting teacher groups from accessing the area, created bottlenecks that turned entry into a disorganized scramble.
“Stop pushing and shoving, there are children here, you’re like animals!” one city official yelled through a megaphone while attempting to manage the crowd. Some frustrated fans threw water bottles and shouted insults at police, even as they chanted in support of the Mexican national team. After an hour of waiting to enter, many fans gave up entirely. “It took us an hour to get in, it was chaos, and getting out was even worse,” 49-year-old Victor Gomez told AFP, who left the venue with his partner before kickoff. “Inside, you can’t even walk, and you can’t see anything; we could only get access to the very last little screen over here.” Local officials quickly announced the fan zone had reached full capacity on social media and urged arriving fans to seek out alternate viewing locations. Originally scheduled to attend the Zocalo fan zone, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum instead watched the match at a local sports center amid ongoing unrest.
The protests that prompted the security barriers began days earlier, when a group of teachers demanding higher wage increases organized demonstrations near high-profile World Cup locations. On Thursday, they were joined by relatives of missing Mexican citizens and student activist groups, who gathered outside Estadio Azteca ahead of the match. As kickoff approached, a subset of protesters pushed through perimeter barriers, leading to physical clashes with uniformed officers. Small groups of young demonstrators smashed car windows with baseball bats, prompting police to deploy tear gas and mounted units to disperse the crowd, which scattered across surrounding neighborhoods.