World Cup 2026 opening ceremony LIVE: Michael Buble and Alanis Morissette set to perform before co-hosts Canada face Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnia & Herzegovina ended a 12-year wait to return to the World Cup when they came through the European qualifying play-offs to secure their place in the competition.

Eden Dzeko is the eye-opening inclusion in the squad and will head to the World Cup for a second time at the age of 40. Dzeko featured in Bosnia’s only other appearance – back in 2014 – with defender Sead Kolasinac the only other member of the squad to also play in that tournament.

He will feature too having scored a crucial 86th minute equaliser against Wales in the play-off round before setting up Haris Tabakovic’s goal against Italy in the play-off final. Both of those games were won on penalties which could prove useful experience should the European side reach the knockout rounds.

Manager Jesse Marsch has described his 26-man squad as the best ‘ever assembled’ and there are highs hopes that the Canadians can make it out of the group stages and into the round of 32 for the very first time.

Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies is, arguably, the most well known player in the squad but he is not fit in time for the first match after picking up a hamstring injury during a Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain.

Canada, of course, qualified for the tournament as co-hosts and will want to vastly improve on their 2022 showing where they lost all three group games and exited without recording a point.

The other prevailing theme from the opening day was how jarring the mid-half water breaks can feel. Lawrence Ostlere, on his way to Los Angeles to watch the USA vs Paraguay later, wants rid of them.

Will the Toronto Stadium be full today? One would assume so as a smaller venue but there were empty seats evident in Guadalajara yesterday as Fifa’s ticket pricing strategy perhaps came back to bite the World Cup organisers.

One Canadian star not in action today is Alphonso Davies, with the Bayern Munich defender losing his race to be fit for the tournament opener. Manager Jesse Marsch hopes to be able to call upon the versatile Davies at some point in the group stage, but a hamstring injury sidelines him for now.

Canada will now take the spotlight for their opening ceremony in Toronto, kicking off at 6:30pm BST on Friday 12 June at BMO Field ahead of the host nation’s clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina. That one will be live on the BBC.

Leading the line-up is none other than Canadian icon Michael Buble, with the likes of Alessia Cara and Alanis Morissette among the other featured performers.

Palestinian singer Elyanna will also perform while French artist Vegedream, who is best known for his the timeless anthem “Ramenez la coupe a la maison” which celebrated France’s World Cup win in 2018.

Jessie Reyez, Nora Fatehi, Sanjoy and William Prince are also on the bill.

Yes, matters on the pitch will be of interest later but the opening ceremonies will draw plenty of eyes today, too. Here’s a reminder of what is on deck, with a couple of Canadian superstars set to take the Toronto stage.

Hello hello. It’s another big and busy day as the World Cup kicks into gear with our remaining co-hosts readying themselves for action. Mexico started the party in style yesterday – complete with cards and everything – and now it is the turn of Canada and the United States to kickstart their tournaments.

We begin in Toronto, where there are plenty of stars on show. Michael Buble! Alanis Morissette! Edin Dzeko! The curtain comes up on Canada’s campaign at 8pm BST/3pm ET as they face Bosnia and Herzegovina, but there will be plenty of fun and festivities before then.