December 29 – Officials from the United States, Canada and Mexico are likely to meet next year to discuss a joint bid for the 2026 World Cup, according to CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani.
FIFA confirmed in October that co-hosting would be allowed, even encouraged, starting with the 2026 tournament which has long been assumed would go to north and central America.
With the finals likely to be increased to 48 teams, only a few nations could stage the event on their own. The United States would be one of them but co-hosting seems more likely.
“It’s obviously a possibility,” Montagliani told Reuters on the sidelines of a sports conference in Dubai. “It’s time for it to come back (to CONCACAF).”
Morocco is reported to be lining up a possible rival bid but formal discussions over a possible joint US-Canada-Mexico bid are likely to start in 2017, Montagliani said, once “all the rules and regulations” related to the bid are announced.
Montagliani, who is also president of the Canadian Soccer Association, added: ” I think that door is wide open. At face value I don’t see it being a challenge and I think any administration, whether it be in the west or in my case Canada, or in Mexico, would be supportive of an event like the World Cup.”
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