When does the FIFA World Cup start and who are the favourites? | It’s all kicking off again: in…

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When does the FIFA World Cup start and who are the favourites?

Lionel Messi will lead Argentina in its World Cup defence. (Reuters: Kai Pfaffenbach)

The FIFA World Cup is the biggest single-sport event on the planet and has delivered numerous historical moments, from Diego Maradona's "hand of God" in 1986 to Zinedine Zidane's infamous headbutt on Marco Materazzi.

2026 will be the biggest and most expensive World Cup to date, spread across Mexico, the United States, and Canada, with 48 teams competing from the biggest and best to some of the globe's smallest countries.

Australia will be right in there, named in a group with co-host the United States.

The World Cup will officially start with the opening ceremony at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on Friday morning (AEST), which will precede the tournament's first match between Mexico and South Africa at 5am.

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It’s all kicking off again: inside the 12 June Guardian Weekly

How the World Cup became an $80bn behemoth. Plus: Behind the last Beatles gigs

It’s long been a golden rule of sport that football World Cups get bigger and badder every four years. The latest edition of the tournament, however, may put that universal law to the test after a six-week journey through Trump’s America, which is expected to generate $80bn of global economic output through its full timeline.

As the world’s biggest sporting event meets the world’s biggest market, it’s hard to see how even the World Cup can get much more bloated than this. But if anyone can make it happen it’s Gianni Infantino, the opportunist Fifa overlord who has schmoozed with the planet’s most divisive leaders to extract maximum gains from his travelling global roadshow. As Barney Ronay says in his tournament scenesetter for our cover story this week, welcome to the heart of darkness.

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