The FIFA Fan Festival has welcomed more than two million visitors across North America during the opening phase of the FIFA World Cup 2026, underlining the tournament’s growing popularity and festive atmosphere beyond the stadiums.

According to FIFA, the milestone was reached after the first 24 matches of the competition, with 1,992,302 visitors recorded across the 13 Host Cities before crowds pushed attendance beyond the two-million mark on Thursday.

Fan Festival venues have become major gathering points for supporters eager to watch matches on giant screens while enjoying live entertainment, cultural activities and local cuisine.

Mexico’s host cities have attracted the largest crowds so far. Mexico City’s iconic Zócalo has welcomed more than 527,000 visitors, while Monterrey and Guadalajara have drawn approximately 245,000 and 218,000 fans respectively. Venues across Canada and the United States have also reported strong attendance, with many operating at full capacity throughout the tournament’s opening week.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino praised the success of the initiative, describing the FIFA Fan Festival as a key part of the tournament experience. He said the goal was to create spaces where local residents and visiting supporters could come together to celebrate football, enjoy entertainment and experience the culture of the host nations.

The tournament’s opening days saw large crowds gather across North America. Thousands of fans packed Mexico City’s Zócalo on the opening day to watch co-host Mexico begin its World Cup campaign with a victory, while similar scenes unfolded in Monterrey and Guadalajara.

The excitement followed special Countdown Concert events held in Mexico City, Los Angeles and Toronto, featuring performances by artists including Bryan Adams, The Beaches, Nora Fatehi, Vegedream, AHI and Wyclef Jean.

As Canada and the United States opened their World Cup campaigns with positive results, Fan Festival venues across both countries quickly filled to capacity.

Since then, host cities including Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia and Vancouver have staged packed events featuring music, cultural showcases and football celebrations.

High-profile performances from artists such as Luis Fonsi, Pitbull, Jessie Reyez and Summer Walker have helped attract large audiences, while FIFA has announced an extensive programme of entertainment for the remainder of the tournament.

Upcoming performances are expected from Ludacris, Killer Mike, CeeLo Green, Davido, Mötley Crüe, The All-American Rejects, Flo Rida, Ashanti, Ja Rule and The Chainsmokers.

With the FIFA World Cup 2026 set to continue until 19 July, organisers expect millions more supporters to visit the FIFA Fan Festival venues, making them a central part of the tournament’s celebration across Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has questioned Pakistan’s assertion that diplomatic efforts with Afghanistan have failed, urging Pakistani lawmakers to seek greater transparency from their government regarding negotiations with Kabul.

In a statement posted on social media, Khalilzad referred to a recent session of Pakistan’s National Assembly in which several lawmakers highlighted the costs and risks associated with Islamabad’s reliance on force rather than diplomacy to address its disputes with Afghanistan.

The core disagreement between the two countries centers on mutual security allegations. Pakistan maintains that Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has carried out numerous attacks inside the country, enjoys sanctuary and support in Afghanistan. Afghan authorities, meanwhile, accuse Pakistan of providing refuge and support to Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) and other groups hostile to Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, recently argued that diplomatic engagement with the Islamic Emirate had failed because Kabul had not provided sufficient assurances and commitments regarding Pakistan’s security concerns. However, according to Khalilzad, the minister did not specify what commitments Pakistan had requested or why Afghanistan’s responses were considered inadequate.

Khalilzad said he sought clarification from Afghan officials regarding negotiations between the two countries. According to those officials, Afghanistan has offered to provide written security guarantees while requesting reciprocal commitments from Pakistan. They also said Kabul has worked through bilateral mechanisms, including the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), to address security issues and has accepted the principle of third-party participation in verification mechanisms.

Afghan officials further stated that the Islamic Emirate has issued a religious decree prohibiting Afghan citizens from participating in attacks inside Pakistan, relocated Pakistani refugees who had been settled near the Durand Line during Afghanistan’s previous government, and participated in both official and semi-official dialogues mediated by various countries.

They also claimed that Afghan authorities have taken verifiable action against individuals and groups that violated Afghanistan’s policy of preventing the use of its territory against other nations.

Khalilzad argued that Pakistani lawmakers who favor diplomacy should press their government to pursue an agreement under which neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan would permit their territory to be used by groups or individuals to threaten the other’s security.

“If accurately described in the points above, Afghanistan seems ready for a serious solution,” Khalilzad said. He questioned why Pakistan continues to insist that diplomacy has failed and called on Islamabad to explain its specific objections to Afghanistan’s proposals.

“The Pakistani people and Parliament have the right to know,” he added.

Israeli strikes and gunfire killed ​at least nine people, including a child and a journalist from Al Jazeera, in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, health officials said.

An ‌Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians, including two women and a child, in an apartment building in Gaza City, health officials said. The attack on the building in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City destroyed the apartment and wounded several other people, medics added, Reuters reported.

The Israeli military said it struck a militant, without elaborating.

In another incident, Israeli forces shot and killed a woman ​in Beit Lahiya town further north, medics said. An Israeli airstrike killed at least one person and wounded eight others in Khan Younis, ​south of the enclave.

Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed three people, medics said, including Ahmed Wishah, a journalist working ⁠for Al Jazeera, in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera said Wishah, a cameraman, was killed in what the network called ​a “heinous crime,” about two months after his brother, Mohammed Wishah, also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed by the Israeli military.

The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate condemned Wishah’s killing on ​Saturday and called for Israeli leaders to be held accountable for such attacks, which have killed nearly 300 Palestinian journalists since the war began in October 2023.

Israel has often claimed without evidence that the journalists it has targeted in Gaza were linked to militants, including Hamas.

The Israeli military said in a statement it killed a Hamas militant, who posed a ​threat and served as an Al Jazeera photojournalist. It did not provide evidence. It said Wishah served as a “sniper,” adding that he was killed along with ​two other Hamas militants.

It had also accused the brother it killed in April of being a senior Hamas armed operative. Hamas and Al Jazeera denied that Wishah had any ‌affiliation with ⁠the group.

“Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the deliberate killing of its Al Jazeera Mubasher Channel’s cameraman Ahmed Wishah by Israeli occupation forces today, Saturday 20 June, in an Israeli bombardment that targeted a house in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.

The latest killing raised the number of Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023 to 12, Al Jazeera said.

An October ceasefire has halted major fighting between Hamas and ​Israel, but it has not ended ​Israeli attacks.

Gaza’s health ministry said more ⁠than 1,010 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire. Militants killed four Israeli soldiers in Gaza over the same period.

Israel says its strikes are aimed at thwarting imminent attacks by Hamas and other militants. Hamas rarely discloses ​information about the deaths of its fighters.

Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked over how to proceed with the next ​stage of U.S. President ⁠Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, which involves Hamas laying down its arms and Israeli withdrawals.

Talks held by mediators Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, over the implementation of the second phase of Trump’s Gaza plan, have not yet reached an agreement, sources close to the talks said.

Israel says Hamas must ⁠cede power ​in Gaza, disarm, and play no role in the future governance of the enclave. Hamas links ​any full disarmament to launching a political track towards establishing a Palestinian state.

Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people during their cross-border attack into Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. The ​Gaza health ministry said more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since then.