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Hugo Sánchez misses a penalty during the 1986 World Cup. The image was taken in a cantina in Mexico City. Photo Fabrizio León Diez/ *La Jornada*

The opening whistle of the 2026 World Cup will sound in Mexico City in less than two weeks when the Mexican national team faces South Africa. The stadiums are ready, and those very expensive tickets are (mostly) sold out. But the governments of the capital and the other host cities—Guadalajara and Monterrey—are racing against the clock, with 20 Metro stations still needing repairs and the Mexico City International Airport undergoing renovation work. And no one knows for sure whether the planned protests will block the streets on opening day.

“Let the ball roll not as a symbol of luxury, money, or power, but of peace and human connection,” declared President Claudia Sheinbaum at the general assembly of the 2026 Street Child World Cup. “Let the ball roll where pain might once have rolled, so that war may never again steal hope from humanity.”

The national team says it is prepared and already has its anthem, but few are betting that this will be its year. Although Mexico has hosted more World Cups than any other country—including this tournament—its team reached the quarterfinals in 1970 and 1986, but never more. Still, of the 211 countries that make up FIFA, only eight have won the World Cup—but no one can rule out miracles. Visit La Jornada to see the special World Cup supplement, on Monday, June 8.

Mexico City chose the axolotl, a species endemic to the Valley of Mexico, as the city’s emblem, and it is being painted on a thousand murals throughout the metropolis. One hundred new soccer fields will also be built, and 400 more will be renovated. Clara Brugada is seeking to have June 11, 2026, declared a “National Day of Celebration,” so that there will be no school or work, and both children and adults can watch the opening match.

Although Mexico (and Canada) play a secondary role to the United States as hosts—only 13 of the 104 scheduled matches will be played in Mexico—being one of the venues for the world’s biggest sporting spectacle still generates massive excitement and places the country at the center of the world’s attention during that month of the beautiful game.

Sometimes that attention includes less beautiful things. Fewer than three weeks before the World Cup began, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee sanctioned the national team with a partial closure of the stands at Estadio Cuauhtémoc due to the behavior of spectators during matches against Ecuador and Paraguay in October and November 2025, when fans repeated a homophobic chant.

Meanwhile, the “judge,” FIFA, lacks moral authority and instead represents the ugly, corrupt side of the beautiful game. Beyond its years of massive corruption scandals—including criminal cases that ultimately brought down its leadership—this year FIFA even invented a “Peace Award” so it could present it to Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump, an explicit gesture aimed at currying favor with the World Cup’s main host nation, without the slightest shame.

And it bears repeating what everyone already knows: “The World Cup is the private property of the transnational corporation known as… FIFA,” as Lev Velázquez Barriga puts it. The commercial spectacle has little to do with the popular culture of soccer. Business comes first. This is obvious in the astronomical ticket prices. In Mexico, the president gave her opening-match ticket to an Indigenous woman, but the vast majority of fans will have to rely on fan zones and television broadcasts. In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani negotiated with FIFA to secure one thousand $50 tickets, which are currently being raffled off. But every other mortal being will need, in most cases, thousands of dollars just to get into the stadiums.

It wouldn’t be a major event in Mexico without protests: teachers, relatives of disappeared persons, and many others are using the occasion to remind the government and the public of unresolved issues still awaiting attention.

One of the highest-profile issues in North America is immigration, and in the context of soccer, immigrants have been essential in supporting their national teams and helping expand the sport—and its business—in the United States. “For decades, Mexican soccer found a highly lucrative market among the immigrant population, and their descendants, in the United States,” reports Juan Manuel Vázquez. He notes that despite threats from immigration authorities during the Trump era, immigrants continue to fill stadiums to support visiting teams from Mexico. This has sparked a growing awareness among players and coaches about migration issues, with some calling for greater attention and cross-border exchange. The Trump administration has still not made clear whether it will carry out immigration enforcement operations during the tournament.

During a protest ahead of the World Cup. Photo Yuri Cortez/ AFP

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The Quote:
“All that I know most surely about morality and the obligations of men, I owe to football.”
—Albert Camus, who in addition to being a writer, was also a goalkeeper.

In Case You Missed It

Mexico defeats Bulgaria in the 1986 World Cup. Photo Frida Hartz/ *La Jornada*

◻️ Eduardo Galeano on football. “Why I write. To begin with, a confession: ever since I was a baby, I wanted to be a football player. And I was the best of the best, number one—but only in my dreams, while I was sleeping. When I woke up, as soon as I could walk a couple of steps and kick a pebble on the sidewalk, I confirmed that football wasn’t for me. It was clear: I had no choice but to try some other profession,” wrote Eduardo Galeano, one of the finest guides to the mystery of football on this planet, author of the essential Soccer in Sun and Shadow, and contributor to La Jornada.

In Pure Soccer, a posthumous book, Eduardo Galeano explains that “in its modern form, football comes from an agreement among gentlemen sealed by twelve English clubs in the autumn of 1863 in a tavern in London,” but that although kicks against an opponent were prohibited, today “there are still players who confuse the ball with an opponent’s skull, because of their similar shape.”

Brazilians Pelé (center) and Vava (number 20), during the 1958 World Cup final. Brazil defeated the host nation, Sweden. Photo AFP

◻️ Heroes on the field, but not always off it. A fierce critique of Pelé states that “there is a Pelé that no one wants to see, one that is not mentioned because his face is not the festive or joyful one that has been immortalized,” reports Juan Manuel Vázquez. There is another Pelé, says sociologist Marcos Roitman, who represents the beginning of football as a commodity and a political bargaining chip. He adds: “To say that one should not judge him because he was only a footballer is unfair to all those who did take risks by challenging the system, as did the Argentine Diego Maradona, the Brazilian Sócrates, or the Chilean Carlos Caszely,” Roitman notes. He agrees with former player and coach Ángel Cappa, who writes that there are footballers who use their influence to help build a better game in a more just society. Roitman and Cappa continue their dialogue in the book Football and Politics: Conversations from the Left.

◻️ The society of football: Josetxo Zaldua. “There is no sport in the world that moves as much money, people, and passion as football. Because of football, people kill, couples divorce, gamblers become rich and others are ruined. There is also confusion because in not a small number of countries, national honor is mixed with the performance of their respective national teams,” summarizes Josetxo Zaldua, former coordinator of La Jornada.

During a championship of ulama , a pre-Hispanic ball game and one of the oldest recorded sports in the world. Photo Fernando Llano/ Associated Press

◻️ We have been robbed of so much. Football too: Ojarasca. Citing Eduardo Galeano, the editors of the supplement note that in Mexico and Central America, the rubber ball was the sun of a sacred ceremony dating back some 1,500 years before Christ. “There are so many lessons in football. Sports have positive effects, but none like soccer teaches that life is also played collectively. Win or lose, in a space of equality and dignity, you fight battles without deaths, and only occasional injuries, with team spirit, a time limit, shared rules, and legitimate referees,” they write. “Another football is possible.”

◻️ Memories of the 1986 World Cup. The last time Mexico hosted the World Cup was in 1986. The national team reached the quarterfinals, losing to West Germany on penalties. The star of that tournament was Diego Maradona, who as captain led champion Argentina. He won the Golden Ball and scored five goals, including those dubbed “The Hand of God” and “The Goal of the Century” in the quarterfinal against England. Maradona, wrote Eduardo Galeano, “was the most famous and popular athlete of all time who broke ranks in defense of players who were neither famous nor popular. This generous and solidaristic idol was capable of scoring, in just five minutes, the two most contradictory goals in football history. His devotees worshiped him for both: not only for the artist’s goal, embroidered with the tricks of his legs, and worthy of admiration, but also—and perhaps even more so—for the thief’s goal, stolen by his hand. Diego Maradona was adored not only for his prodigious artistry but also because he was a dirty god, a sinner, the most human of gods.”

This week, 40 years later, some veterans of that national team were invited to speak with the current squad.

◻️ 1970. Mexico hosted the first World Cup held in North America in 1970, where it reached the quarterfinals. It was the first time the event was broadcast globally on television. Brazil, led by the now-legendary Pelé, won its third World Cup title.

🎥 What We Are Watching

Juan Villoro talks about women in soccer.

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Edited by David Brooks and Jim Cason in the United States, Tania Molina Ramírez in Mexico City, of La Jornada, and Elizabeth Coll in Tokyo, under the direction of Carmen Lira Saade and Guillermina Alvarez. More information.

Is Mexico ready for the World Cup?