FIFA World Cup 2026 Kicks Off With Morocco Anthem Viral Hit and Italy Absent From the Party
The first World Cup to span three nations opens in earnest as a Moroccan-themed official song racks up millions of views and Italian football grapples with its own governance crisis.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup officially began on June 11 with the first group-stage match pitting Mexico against South Africa, opening a tournament unprecedented in scale as the first to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico across 16 cities and three time zones.
Before a ball was kicked, the tournament's cultural footprint was already registering globally. "Siir Siir," the Moroccan-flavoured official theme performed by singer Nora Fatehi and French rapper Vegedream, accumulated more than 31 million views in under 48 hours of its release, signalling the commercial and cultural reach organisers are counting on for the expanded 48-team event.
The opening fixtures arrive against a backdrop of high anticipation for host nation fans across North America, where the tournament's logistical and broadcast infrastructure has been years in the making. The three-nation format means travel distances between venues dwarf any previous edition of the competition.
For Italian football, however, the occasion carries a bitter tinge. Italy's senior national team failed to qualify, leaving the Azzurri watching from the sidelines for the second World Cup in succession — a humiliation compounded, according to the Italian sports daily il Giornale, by an unresolved governance dispute at home. The paper described the mood as one of "malinconia" — melancholy — as Italians contemplated the tournament's opening without their side involved.
That domestic row centres on a standoff between Italian sports minister Andrea Abodi and Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malagò over eligibility rules within the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). The dispute concerns who may stand for election to run Italian football — a procedural conflict that critics say reflects the deeper structural failures that produced Italy's consecutive World Cup absences.
The three-host format was awarded by FIFA partly to maximise revenue and partly as a geopolitical statement, embedding the tournament in North America ahead of the United States' centennial in 2026. Supporters argue the model expands the game's reach; detractors have raised concerns about the environmental cost of intercontinental travel and the dilution of the classic World Cup atmosphere when matches are spread across a continent.
With 48 teams competing this cycle for the first time — up from 32 — the group stage is more forgiving for smaller footballing nations, a change FIFA says will broaden global participation but which purists argue weakens the quality of early rounds.
What remains to be seen is whether the expanded format and the multi-host spectacle can generate the kind of defining moments that have made past tournaments iconic. The Mexico versus South Africa opener is the first test of whether the on-pitch product can match the off-pitch promotional momentum already underway.