The Return of the Temple: The Myth Surrounding the Azteca

Pele, Maradona and the Wave, Mexico City’s iconic stadium will make history again in 2026

Sports 5 Published: 11.06.26, 11:36 Photo: Sports 5

The biggest World Cup ever got underway this evening (Thursday) with the host nation Mexico meeting South Africa. Many records will be broken in this World Cup, and the first of them is tied to one of the most mythic and iconic stadiums in World Cup history. Estadio Azteca will become tonight the first stadium ever to host three World Cup opening matches. In 1970, Mexico kicked off against the Soviet Union in a 0-0 draw, and 16 years later, then world champion Italy drew 1-1 with Bulgaria.

The idea to build the stadium was conceived by leaders of the Mexican Football Federation in the 1950s, with the aim of hosting a World Cup. Construction on the stadium did not begin until 1962, and was completed four years later. The result was a grand stadium that held 115,000 people and was considered a marvel of its time, modeled after Brazil’s Maracana, Wembley in England and San Siro in Italy.

The stadium hosted some of the most memorable matches in World Cup history. Pele led Brazil there to the 1970 World Cup title after a dominant 4-1 win over Italy, in what is probably considered the greatest performance by a team in a final ever. In that same tournament, Italy beat West Germany 4-3 in the semifinal known as the “Match of the Century” at a stadium located more than 2,000 meters above sea level. Sixteen years later, a small Argentine named Diego Armando Maradona scored the Hand of God goal and the famous slalom goal against Peter Shilton and England in the quarterfinals at the Azteca. Diego went all the way and led Argentina to its second World Cup title with a 3-2 win over West Germany, setting up Jorge Burruchaga for the winning goal. That World Cup 40 years ago also gave birth to the first “Mexican wave” in the stands.

The Azteca has also hosted historic events outside football. In 1979, Pope John Paul II held a mass prayer there before more than 100,000 people. In 1993, 132,000 spectators came to the boxing match between Julio Cesar Chavez and Greg Haugen, one of the largest crowds ever for a boxing fight.

More than half a century later, the stadium underwent an extensive renovation at a cost of about 3.6 billion pesos, about 160 million euros, completed in early 2026. It now holds about 87,500 seats, though ahead of the World Cup, due to seating arrangements for journalists, capacity was reduced to 80,824. It is the largest stadium in Latin America and the largest at the current World Cup.

If we return to the present, the Central American side has an excellent record at the Azteca, with five wins in seven matches in the two previous tournaments in which it also reached the quarterfinals. Mexico has never lost a World Cup match at the Azteca and also wants to continue its positive opening-match run in World Cups, where it has won 5 of its last seven matches.

Very few stadiums can boast that they have witnessed history. The Azteca did not just witness it, it helped create it, and during the upcoming World Cup, in which it will host five matches, it will continue to do so, even 40 years later.

World Cup 2026

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