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

ABC Australia · Jun 9, 2026, 7:09 PM · Also reported by 4 other sources

Key takeaways

  • Lionel Messi will lead Argentina in its World Cup defence.
  • 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.

Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.

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

Link copied Share Share article 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.

Article preview — originally published by ABC Australia. Full story at the source.
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