Sports
6 years ago

USA, Canada, Mexico to host 2026 FIFA world cup

Published :

Updated :

The 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico after their joint bid beat Morocco's proposal to host it.

The 'United 2026' bid was selected by FIFA member nations, winning 134 votes compared to 65 for Morocco.

The 2026 tournament will be the biggest World Cup ever held - with 48 teams playing 80 matches over 34 days, reports BBC.

"Football is the only victor. We are all united in football," US Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro said.

"Thank you so, so much for this incredible honour. Thank you for entrusting us with this privilege," Carlos Cordeiro said.

Among the 211 FIFA member nations, 200 cast a vote at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow on Wednesday, with the winning bid needing a majority of 104.

Canada, Mexico, Morocco and the US were exempt, while Ghana was absent after the country's government said it had disbanded its football association amid allegations of "widespread" corruption.

Three US territories - Guam, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico - were among the other member nations to not vote.

Both Mexico (1970 and 1986) and the United States (1994) have previously hosted World Cups.

Canada staged the Women's World Cup in 2015.

The 'United' World Cup will generate $14bn (£10.3bn) in revenue and make an $11bn (£8.1bn) profit for FIFA, says Cordeiro.

Of the 16 host cities, 10 will be in the United States while the remainder will be split evenly between Canada and Mexico.

Sixty matches will take place in the US, while Canada and Mexico will host 10 games each.

The final will be held at the 84,953-capacity MetLife Stadium in New Jersey of USA.

The distance between the most northern host city (Edmonton) and the most southern (Mexico City) is almost 3,000 miles, which compares to 1,900 miles at this month's tournament in Russia.

The tournament will mark the first time a World Cup has been shared by three host nations.

The 1994 World Cup, staged by the US, had the highest average attendance in the tournament's history, while Mexico was the first nation to host the event twice.

Share this news