FIFA President Gianni Infantino is set to face the media on the eve of the World Cup on Wednesday, as off-field distractions dogged the build-up to the tournament.

A teenage Chinese basketball international player was banned for three years on Wednesday for lying about his age and competing under two names, said the Chinese Basketball Association.

Forty years after playing for Belgium against hosts Mexico in the 1986 World Cup opener, Hugo Broos makes an emotional return to the Estadio Azteca on Thursday, this time as coach of South Africa.

Japan coach Eddie Jones joked Wednesday that he was "looking for a laundry basket" to escape a four-match ban imposed by his own bosses for verbally abusing a referee.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup gets under way across Mexico, the United States and Canada. And Bafana Bafana have been handed the spotlight from the very start.