World Cup 2026 opening ceremony: Start time, performers, and Irish TV channel
Shakira, pictured here performing at the closing ceremony of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, will perform the opening ceremony in Mexico City on Thursday night. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.
The 2026 World Cup kicks off tonight across the United States, Mexico and Canada, with the first opening ceremony of the tournament taking place in Mexico.
Headliners Shakira and Burna Boy will take to the global stage at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City ahead of Mexico’s Group A clash against South Africa.
The ceremony, which will celebrate the best of Latin American talent, will see the pair perform Dai Dai, the official World Cup 2026 song, for the first time live.
Mexican band Mana will also perform, alongside Alejandro Fernández and Colombian J Balvin, as well as Belinda, Danny Ocean, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, and Tyla.
The ceremony is the first of three opening ceremonies scheduled for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
For the first time in the history of the tournament, three separate opening ceremonies will be held, one in each host nation, creating a connected trilogy rather than a single show.
Each ceremony begins 90 minutes before the host nation’s first match and flows directly into the game, combining speeches, flag parades, match ball presentations, and musical entertainment.
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The first ceremony will take place this evening at 6.30pm Irish time (11.30am CST) ahead of the Mexico vs South Africa game at 8pm GMT (1pm CST).
The second ceremony will take place in Toronto, Canada, on Friday, June 12 at 6.30pm Irish time (1.30pm ET) ahead of the Canada vs Bosnia and Herzegovina at 8pm GMT (3pm ET).
Jessie Reyez and Palestinian singer Elyanna will perform, and Michael Bublé will headline the evening’s pre-match entertainment.
Nora Fatehi, Alanis Morissette, Alessia Cara, William Prince, DJ Sanjoy, and Vegedream will complete the line-up in a show that FIFA president Gianni Infantino has hailed as a “powerful reflection of Canada’s identity”.
The third and final ceremony will take place in Los Angeles, USA at 12.30am Irish time on Saturday, June 13 at (4.30pm PT on Friday, June 12) ahead of the USA vs Paraguay kickoff at 2am GMT (6pm PT).
Katy Perry, Future and Tyla will take centre stage for their performance at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
K-pop band Blackpink will also be joined by Brazilian Anitta and Nigerian Rema on the night.
This year, the World Cup tournament will take place across 16 cities, with 11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.
RTÉ Two will be broadcasting all 104 fixtures over the next 39 days of the tournament.
This evening’s broadcast gets underway at 6.15pm. The match itself will kick off at 8pm but the opening ceremony will start at 6.30pm.
All of RTÉ’s coverage can also be streamed through the RTÉ Player.
The closing ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, 19 July, immediately following the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey.
FIFA has also confirmed a halftime show produced in partnership with Global Citizen, the first of its kind in World Cup history.
FIFA and Global Citizen have also confirmed that Times Square will become a major fan focus during finals weekend, with screens, public viewing, hospitality areas, and live performances linked to both the bronze-medal match and the final.
The full lineup of performers, exact timings and final stage script for the closing ceremony are yet to be released.
