Mexico, alongside Canada and the United States are joint-hosts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which means that they will become the only country to host three FIFA World Cups. This will be El Tri’s 18th World Cup, meaning they have qualified for the tournament on the most occasions out of sides that have yet to win it.
World Cup History
Excluding the upcoming tournament, Mexico have qualified for the World Cup on 19 occasions, but it has participated in only 17.
This is because the El Tri withdrew from the 1938 World Cup due to the tournament taking place in Europe, as well as being banned from the 1990 World Cup in Italy due to the Cachirules scandal, where the Mexican Football Association knowingly played at least four overage players at the U-20 CONCACAF Tournament.
El Tri’s consistency on the international stage has made them the most reliable qualifiers from the CONCACAF region, regularly topping or finishing near the top of the final qualifying round.
Despite their constant success in qualification, the furthest they have reached in FIFA’s centrepiece is the quarter-finals, with both occasions being the case in World Cups that Mexico hosted (1970 and 1986).
Since the 1994 World Cup onwards, El Tri have failed to make it past the round-of-16, with the most recent tournament in Qatar being the first time that they had failed to make it that far since 1978.
In the Middle East, Mexico, who were managed by Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, opened their campaign with a goalless draw against Poland, with Guillermo Ochoa saving a penalty from Robert Lewandowski.
Yet, a win against Saudi Arabia was not enough on the final matchday, with the defeat against Argentina in their second match enough for El Tri to miss out on progression only on goal difference.
The closest that El Tri has been to getting further into the knockout stages came in 2006 and 2014, where, in the latter, a soft foul on Arjen Robben in the box allowed for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to convert a penalty past Mexican legend Ochoa deep in added time, with then Mexico manager Miguel Herrera calling for referee Pedro Proença to be sent home from the tournament.
Recent Form
Mexico are currently ranked 16th in the FIFA World Rankings, down one place since the last World Cup in Qatar.
Despite this, Mexico won the CONCACAF Gold Cup last summer. During the group stage, Aguirre’s side beat both Suriname and the Dominican Republic, and played a goalless draw against group runners-up in Costa Rica.
In the knockout stages, Mexico beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 thanks to two goals at opposite ends of the second half, before beating Honduras 1-0 in the semi-finals through a Raúl Jiménez right footed strike just inside the box.
In the final, which was played at NRG Stadium in Houston, the United States took an early lead through Crystal Palace’s Chris Richards, scoring a header which hit the underside of the bar and crossed the line.
Albeit, Jiménez would score at Matt Freese’s near post with a powerful strike half way through the first half, with the winner coming in the 76th minute from a set-piece, with a whipped in free kick, being flicked on from Johan Vásquez to West Ham’s Edson Álvarez from close range to win their 10th Gold Cup.
Since then, their form has been quite poor, evident through a six game winless streak.
That being said, in their last three matches, Aguirre’s side have won all of their matches, keeping clean sheets across four of their last five.
Manager – Javier Aguirre
Javier Aguirre is on his third spell as Mexico manager.
Born in Mexico City, the 67-year-old earned 59 appearances for the national team, with the midfielder scoring on 13 occasions.
In terms of management, Aguirre replaced Enrique Meza after one win in twelve matches for the national team, where Aguirre guided El Tri to the 2002 World Cup after finishing behind Costa Rica after qualifying.
During their qualification campaign and the finals of the tournament, Aguirre guided his national team to the final of the 2001 Copa America, albeit they were unable to take home the Centenario trophy, losing 1-0 in the final to hosts Colombia.
In the 2002 World Cup, Mexico topped the group which included Italy, but was defeated by the United States in the round-of-16. This was the same case in the 2010 World Cup in which Aguirre was re-appointed for, though this time it was Argentina who beat his side 3-1 in the round-of-16.
Since his last spell managing El Tri, El Vasco has also managed Japan for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, Egypt for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations where they were eliminated in the round-of-16, and had spells in Spain managing Leganés and Mallorca, where he reached the final of the Copa del Rey with the latter.
Key Player – Raúl Jiménez
Jiménez will be a familiar name to all Premier League fans. The Mexican made 166 appearances for Wolves in all competitions during his time at the club from 2018 to 2023, where he scored 57 goals, with the striker playing 70 matches at the time of writing for Marco Silva’s Fulham.
The predominantly right-footed striker started his career within the youth development of Mexican giants Club América, where he made his debut in October of 2011.
After three seasons at the club, where he won the 2013 Clausura, he was signed by Atlético Madrid, though joined Benfica just a season later. Here, Jiménez made 120 appearances for As Águias, scoring on 31 occasions, helping his side win two Liga Portugal titles.
From here, Jiménez was loaned out to Wolves ahead of their first season back in the Premier League since 2012 on a season-long loan for a fee of £2.6 million, with a buyout clause of £33 million. This deal was made permanent after helping the newly-promoted side finish 7th in the league, scoring thirteen goals in the league, and seventeen across all competitions.
He would go on to play another four seasons at the club after his loan-move was made permanent, scoring 57 goals in 166 matches, leaving Molineux as the player with the most Premier League goals for Wolves.
He was bought by Fulham for Fulham for £5.5m in July of 2023, where he has been a regular starter.
As for the national team, Jiménez was a part of the under-23 squad that won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, and has represented Mexico in the last three FIFA World Cups.
Jiménez has won two CONCACAF Gold Cups in 2019 and 2025, and is currently El tri’s third all-time top goalscorer with 44 goals.
Matches
El Tri will host the first of 104 World Cup matches when they take on South Africa, in a rematch of the opening match of the 2010 South Africa World Cup where the score was level between both sides. Mexico will be expected to top the group, though South Korea will pose the biggest threat.
Mexico vs South Africa – Mexico City – Thursday 11th June (20:00)
Mexico vs South Korea – Guadalajara – Friday 19th June (02:00)
Czechia vs Mexico – Mexico City – Thursday 25th June (02:00)