Canada, US And Mexico Launch Bid To Co-Host 2026 World Cup

According to U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, the 80-match World Cup would feature 60 matches in the US, 10 in Mexico and 10 in Canada.

The announcement was made Monday afternoon in a press conference hosted by the federations of the three countries at One World Observatory in NY. The U.S. and Mexico contribute two of the bigger media markets in the world, especially with the ability to host games in prime time, plus a more mature sponsorship environment, Gulati said.

The FC panel examine the arguments for and against a joint 2026 World Cup bid from the USA perspective.

With its stadiums and infrastructure, the United States could have gone about it alone and won the bid. Other countries have this year and part of next year to submit their bids. Infantino has proposed multiple chances to the World Cup, including expansion of the tournament to allow for more countries to qualify. “This will be an extraordinarily successful World Cup on financial and economic grounds, and that’s critical because most of FIFA’s revenues come from one event”.

Details of the host cities for 2026 are yet to be announced but the US portion of the bid will rely on the gleaming stadiums opened by the National Football League in the past two decades.

It looks like the US and CONCACAF know it.

The 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be played in Russian Federation and Qatar, respectively.

Although Morocco has been speculated as a potential bidder for a fifth time, Africa is seen as lacking facilities even for a co-hosting bid for an expanded 48-team World Cup.

Canada has hosted the Women’s World Cup in 2015 and Under-20 World Cup in 2007 to great success.

“The president of the United States is fully supportive and encouraged us in having this joint bid”.

There has never been a World Cup hosted by more than two countries, and only once has there been a co-hosted World Cup, when Japan and South Korea joined forces in 2002. That leaves Africa and South America as the only possible challengers to a CONCACAF bid. But FIFA hasn’t yet ruled on that for this joint bid, which means Canada might still have to go through the CONCACAF qualifying process in order to play at the 2026 World Cup. All matches from the quarter-finals onwards would be in the USA which hosted in 1994.

Victor Montagliani, the CONCACAF President and President of the Canadian Soccer Association, says that “we’ll respond accordingly” if FIFA were to require grass pitches for the Canadian venues. The final would be held in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Mexico federation president in a statement said, “If we are selected to host, it will be an honor to welcome everyone with open arms”.

The bid was launched on Monday, and is likely the only realistic option for FIFA’s 211 member federations who are scheduled to decide in May 2020.

“We still have to get this World Cup, but if that happens in the next while, then we’ll have a north star”, Montagliani told Postmedia.