Mexico City established a Guinness World Record for the largest soccer class ever on Sunday as 9,500 futbolistas filled the Zócalo as part of a series of promotional events ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
The plaza in front of the National Palace served as a massive training ground with enthusiastic crowds engaging in soccer drills under the guidance of dozens of instructors. Participants kicked balls and took part in coordinated exercises under the guise of promoting sport and community engagement.
While presiding over the international class alongside soccer stars and former members of Mexican national teams, Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said that with this event, the capital officially “kicked off the World Cup.”
Mexico City will play host to five World Cup games, including the inaugural match on June 11.
Brugada, who joined participants on the pitch, said her government was hoping to send a message of “no to war, yes to peace,” saying, “Today we scored a goal against hatred, inequality and indifference.”
¡La #CiudadMásDeportiva hizo historia!
El #Mundial2026 está cada vez más cerca: ¡#LaPelotaVuelveACasa! pic.twitter.com/xz9q1Yz58M
— Clara Brugada Molina (@ClaraBrugadaM) March 15, 2026
Among the soccer celebrities participating were former national team players Braulio Luna (1998 and 2002 World Cups), Francisco “Kikín” Fonseca (2006 World Cup), Óscar “Conejo” Pérez (2002 and 2010 World Cups), Miguel España (1986 World Cup) and Adrián Chávez (1994 World Cup), as well as several members of Mexico’s 1971 Women’s World Cup squad.
The event easily surpassed the previous Guinness record set in Seattle in June 2025, when a soccer class brought together 1,038 participants.
Alfredo Arista Rueda, a Guinness World Records judge, confirmed that a record had been set, saying, “You are officially amazing … congratulations.”
“Today we broke this great record … and showed that we are capable of achieving the extraordinary and the impossible,” Brugada said after receiving the award, adding that “soccer is a universal language, a language of peace that needs no translation.”
This is not the first time Mexico has set a Guinness World Record for an instructional class.
In 2023, Mexico City set a new record with a total of 30,000 registered participants in a boxing class in the Zócalo, a crowd that doubled the record it had established a year earlier.
The soccer class was part of Mexico’s Social World Cup program that aims to bring educational, tourism and cultural activities to communities across the country.
Earlier this month, 4,757 people gathered inside the Víctor Manuel Reyna Stadium in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, to form the world’s largest soccer jersey.
A third Guinness World Record attempt — a massive collaborative soccer-themed mural — will be made in May.
With reports from El Sol de México, Reuters, The Associated Press and El Universal
