2026 World Cup starts tomorrow - Watch on Sirasa

The FIFA World Cup, considered the world's largest sporting event apart from the Olympic Games, is officially scheduled to begin tomorrow (12th) in Mexico City, Mexico. This year's tournament will be held in 16 stadiums across three countries: Canada, the United States, and Mexico, with 48 countries participating. A total of 104 matches are scheduled throughout the tournament.

For the preliminary round matches, 48 teams have been divided into 12 groups, with 4 teams in each group. Subsequently, 32 teams will qualify for the second round, and from then on, matches will be played in a knockout format. The final match of this tournament, which spans over 5 weeks, is scheduled to be held on July 20th.

The host nation Mexico and South Africa will enter the field for the inaugural match of this special tournament, which will be held at 12:30 AM Sri Lanka time on that day.

Although this first match is between Mexico and South Africa, the eyes of football fans worldwide are not focused on these teams. Their ultimate attention has been captured by the current world champions Argentina and Portugal. The main reason for this is that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two greatest football stars of our time, represent these countries.

This 2026 World Cup will be the sixth World Cup that both Messi and Ronaldo will participate in. Football fans worldwide strongly believe that these two superstar players, who have reigned in the football empire for over two decades, will face each other in the final match of this tournament.

According to the current FIFA rankings, Argentina is in the first place, while Portugal is in the fifth place. As Argentina is also the current world champion and both teams are currently performing at a high level, fans have arrived at this optimistic assumption.

Lionel Messi, aged 39, first entered the field in the official jersey of the Argentine national team in 2005 and has since scored 117 goals in 199 international matches. On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo, aged 41, has represented Portugal for a long period of 23 years since August 20, 2003, scoring 143 goals in 222 international matches, setting a world record. It is noteworthy that while Ronaldo holds this world record, Messi holds the second position.

Considering the age of these two players and their current playing patterns, this might be their last opportunity to meet each other in a World Cup tournament. For this reason, football fans worldwide are eagerly awaiting to witness the clash of these two eternal rivals of our time on the world's biggest football stage.

The Capital Maharaja Group has acquired the full rights to broadcast all matches of this massive sporting event for free in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, all matches, from the inaugural match starting tomorrow at 12:30 AM to the final match held on July 20th, will be broadcast live on 'Sirasa', TV-1, and Shakthi TV channels, which belong to the Capital Maharaja Group.

Since the live match times are between 12:00 AM and 9:00 AM Sri Lanka time, these three channels have also arranged to re-broadcast a few selected special matches from 2:00 PM on the respective days for the convenience of viewers. This year's tournament will be hosted in Vancouver and Toronto in Canada, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey in Mexico, and matches are organized to be held in 11 cities in the United States alone.