The 2026 FIFA World Cup is under way, and the most expansive edition of the tournament in its near-century of history is already delivering on its extraordinary scale. For the first time, 48 nations are competing across three co-host countries - the United States, Mexico and Canada - in a tournament that sits without serious argument at the summit of world sport. The group stage is alive, the narratives are forming, and the weekend ahead is packed with fixtures that will begin to shape who goes deep and who goes home early.

The sheer breadth of this tournament means there is something at stake for fans on every continent. While football commands the biggest audiences, the sporting calendar this weekend stretches across disciplines - followers of the energa basket liga in Poland, for instance, will understand the particular electricity of a competition where every match carries consequence. At this World Cup, that electricity is amplified to a global frequency, with billions watching to see whether Spain can defend their status as European champions and translate that form onto the world stage, or whether Brazil, France, England or Argentina can mount the challenge to stop them.

Spain enter the tournament as the bookmakers' leading candidate, and with good reason. Luis de la Fuente's side won Euro 2024 by beating Germany, France and England in succession across the knockout rounds - a résumé that commands respect. Their possession-based identity gives them coherence regardless of personnel, and that consistency of style is a significant asset in a tournament stretched across several weeks and multiple climate zones. In the heat of North America, sides that do not have to think too hard about how they play will have an edge over those still searching for their best shape.

The Players Primed to Define the Tournament

Harry Kane arrives at this World Cup in the most devastating form of his career. In 51 appearances for Bayern Munich across the 2025/26 season, Kane found the net 61 times - a number that underlines not just his talent, but his consistency at the very highest level of club football. He is already England's all-time leading scorer with 79 international goals, and he takes penalties, meaning his route to the scoresheet is never entirely blocked even on days when chances are scarce. England face Ghana and Panama in what look like manageable group fixtures, and Kane will be expected to hit the ground running.

Lamine Yamal, at just 18, is the player who might genuinely redefine what this tournament means for a generation of Spanish fans. He was central to Spain's Euro 2024 triumph and has developed further since. La Roja will funnel significant portions of their attacking play through the right-sided attacker, who combines directness with an end product that belies his age. The prospect of Yamal operating at a World Cup in full flow is one of the most compelling individual storylines of the summer.

For France, Michael Olise's trajectory has been one of football's most striking rises in recent memory. Two years ago he was at Crystal Palace; he is now expected to start for the senior French national side. Playing at No.10 rather than his usual wide-right club position, Olise brings a left-footed creativity that will complement Kylian Mbappe rather than compete with him. France's potential front four - Ousmane Dembele, Olise, Desire Doue and Mbappe - is as frightening on paper as anything in the tournament. Didier Deschamps, in his final campaign as France manager, will know that keeping defensive discipline while deploying that firepower is the central challenge of his tenure-closing summer.

Brazil, Argentina and the Weight of Expectation

Brazil are not where their fans would want them to be in the betting markets - fifth among the favourites - but the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti has shifted the mood. The Italian is a specialist in knockout competition, and the Selecao possess match-winners capable of deciding any game on their own. Their qualifying campaign was turbulent, but they got through, and in tournament football, the group stage is simply a mechanism to reach the knockout rounds. Brazil have done it harder before and still won. The expectation, as always, is enormous; the potential, as always, is real.

Argentina, meanwhile, are attempting something that has never been achieved outside a home confederation: retaining the World Cup. Lionel Messi, at what will surely be his final appearance on this stage, leads a squad that has not changed dramatically since Qatar. Lionel Scaloni has kept faith with the core that succeeded in 2022, and there is a strong argument that continuity of squad and system will serve Argentina well in a tournament where new nations and unfamiliar opponents could unsettle less settled sides. The question is whether the team's level has dropped at all since their 2022 peak - and whether the absence of Angel Di Maria, now retired from international football, leaves a gap that cannot be filled.

The Format, the Groups, and What to Watch This Weekend

The expanded 48-team format has drawn criticism, and some of that criticism is fair. Two-thirds of third-placed teams advance to the round of 32, meaning the margin for error in the group stage is wider than ever before. The traditional group of death - that defining pressure test of the early rounds - is essentially absent this time. What the format does provide is breadth: more nations, more stories, more corners of the world with a stake in the outcome.

The tournament opened at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City with a fixture carrying historical resonance - a reverse of the 2010 curtain-raiser, this time pitting Mexico against South Africa. Bafana Bafana are back at a World Cup for the first time since Johannesburg 2010, technically gifted but occasionally short of a cutting edge in front of goal. Mexico, with the home crowd behind them, will be confident of winning. Elsewhere, Spain face Uruguay in a group fixture with genuine quality on both sides, while France's group - featuring Norway and Erling Haaland - offers the most intriguing dynamic of the opening week. Norway qualified in style, winning every qualifying match, and Haaland averages better than a goal per international appearance. France will not take them lightly, and they would be unwise to do so.

England face Croatia, a side that has made a habit of overachieving at World Cups, before turning to Ghana and Panama. Thomas Tuchel made bold selection calls in omitting several high-profile players, and whether those decisions are vindicated or questioned will depend entirely on how England perform. The bracket has been pre-set, so teams already know their potential knockout path - there is no wheel of fortune waiting after the group stage, only the consequences of where you finish. For the favourites, that is both a comfort and a pressure.

The ball is rolling. The stakes, across every group and in every city from Los Angeles to Toronto to Mexico City, could not be higher for the nations, the players, and the hundreds of millions watching around the world.