NEW DELHI: Thousands of Mexicans packed the heart of their capital on Sunday to kick, pass, and celebrate their way into the record books, turning one of the world’s most iconic public squares into the largest football class ever recorded.
Mexico City’s Zocalo—a vast stone plaza that has witnessed revolutions, earthquakes, and papal visits—had 9,500 people gather to take part in a roughly 40-minute mass training session that shattered the previous Guinness World Record, set in Seattle with 1,038 participants.
“We registered 9,500 people today, so I have the fortune of telling you that as of now, you are ‘officially amazing’, congratulations,” Guinness World Records judge Alfredo Arista said at the end of the class.
“Today we broke this great Guinness World Record; more than 9,000 people gathered and showed that we are capable of achieving the extraordinary and the impossible,” said Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada after receiving the award.
“With this record, the city sends a message to the world: ‘Sport, soccer, is the universal language, a language of peace that needs no translation.’ Congratulations, Mexico City, today we kick off the World Cup,” she added.
The event forms part of a broader campaign dubbed the “Social World Cup.”
In the crowd were families in green, white, and red jerseys; children clutching black and golden footballs; and elderly neighbours stretching alongside professional coaches as instructors led drills under a clear morning sky, with the sound of cathedral bells in the background. Among those present on the stage were members of the Mexico women’s team that won the 1971 Women’s World Cup, an unofficial tournament held in Mexico City that drew some of the largest crowds in the history of the women’s game, as well as former male players like goalkeeper Oscar “El Conejo” Perez. Agencies
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