FIFA World Cup
World Cup 2026 host by USA, Canada and Mexico
Moscow, Russia – FIFA votes to play 2026 World Cup in North America over Moroccan bid. The joint bid of U.S., Canada and Mexico defeated its only challenger among 200 other national soccer federations. In addition, the bid captured 134 votes with 65 votes going to Morocco. Cuba, Slovenia, Iran and Spain abstained from voting.
Also, “this is an incredible, and incredibly important, moment for soccer in North America and beyond,” said Carlos Cordeiro, the president of U.S. Soccer.
However, there will be a new format for the tournament with 48 teams joining the World Cup instead of 32. This will also be the first time in history that a three-nation bid wins the event.
In addition, 60 of the 80 games will be played in American soil, while Canada and Mexico will host 10 a piece. The final is expected to be played in New York’s Metlife stadium.
For the U.S., this is the second time it hosts the World Cup since 1994. Mexico hosted the World Cup in two occasions, in 1970 and 1986. Canada has never hosted a World Cup event and has only qualified once to the 1986 World Cup.
The U.S. cities will be San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Seattle, Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Cincinnati, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York/New Jersey. Canada will have available Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton. Mexico will have Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City.
New Qualification System to World Cup
The 2026 tournament will host 48 teams from former 32. This is a key plank of FIFA president Gianni Infantino. The new allocation of spaces is:
AFC (Asia) – eight places (up from 4.5)
CAF (Africa) – nine places (up from 5)
CONCACAF (North and Central America) – six places, of which three go to hosts (up from 3.5)
CONMEBOL (South America) – six places (up from 4.5)
OFC (Oceana) – one place (up from 0.5)
UEFA (Europe) – 16 places (up from 13)
In addition, a new World Cup playoff mini-tournament will be played for two final spots available. All nations, except UEFA nations, will playoff in a knockout tournament that doubles up as a test event for the host nation. The five teams will join the hosting country. The two seeded teams will each meet the winners of a match between two unseeded teams to determine the final places. There is no clear understanding of what will happen with the Confederations Cup tournament. A tournament usually held a year before the World Cup in the hosting country as a test event.
Also, it is unclear what will happen with the 2021 Confederations Cup as Qatar’s climate in the summer is not the most adequately for playing soccer.
