MEXICO CITY: Azteca Stadium will reopen in March when Mexico host Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo in a friendly match ahead of the 2026 World Cup, the Mexican soccer federation confirmed Tuesday.
The iconic stadium, closed since May of last year for renovations, will host five World Cup matches, including the opener on June 11.
Azteca, recently renamed Banorte Stadium, will become the first venue in history to host a third World Cup opening match. Mexico, which staged the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, is co-hosting next summer’s tournament with the United States and Canada.
The match against Portugal will take place on March 28. Mexico also announced a warmup game against Belgium to be played three days later at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Coach Javier Aguirre said after a 2-1 loss to Paraguay in November that he wanted to play two matches with players from the local league in Central America in January, but the Mexican federation has yet confirmed them.
Azteca to reopen with Mexico facing Ronaldo’s Portugal in March friendly
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Azteca to reopen with Mexico facing Ronaldo’s Portugal in March friendly
- The iconic stadium will host five World Cup matches, including the opener on June 11
- The match against Portugal will take place on March 28
Trump lauds Infantino for ‘record breaking’ World Cup
- Trump said: “You’ve done a fantastic job, a great leader in sports and a great gentleman”
- Trump claimed sales were selling at a pace never seen before
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump turned the spotlight onto FIFA president Gianni Infantino ahead of Friday’s 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, praising the football boss’ organization of the world’s biggest sporting event.
Infantino has been criticized in recent months by some observers who accuse him of drawing uncomfortably close to Trump, whose administration has taken a high-profile role in US preparations for what will be the biggest and most logistically-challenging World Cup ever.
The soccer boss attended Trump’s inauguration in January and has previously said the US leader deserved global recognition for his role in brokering a ceasefire in the Middle East.
FIFA plans to unveil its own peace prize during the draw ceremony with Trump the expected recipient. Spotting Infantino in the audience during a ceremony in Washington marking the signing of a peace treaty between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Trump congratulated him for what he described as record-breaking ticket demand for the first 48-team World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“Gianni, thank you very much,” Trump said. “You’ve done a fantastic job, a great leader in sports and a great gentleman.”
Teams will learn their group-stage fate later on Friday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in a draw for a tournament that stretches across three countries and 16 cities, from Vancouver to Mexico City.
Trump claimed sales were selling at a pace never seen before. “I can report to you that we have sold more tickets than any country anywhere in the world at this stage of the game,” he said, adding that demand had already “broken all records”. Over one million tickets have been purchased so far by fans from 212 countries, FIFA said last month.
After the presidential shout-out, Infantino did not speak publicly.
The FIFA president is overseeing his third men’s World Cup, after Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
