July 8 – FIFA has concluded its candidate host city workshop for the 2026 World Cup. In 2021, the world federation will name the host cities, slimming down the field of 17 contenders to 10 in the US.
On the eve of the 2018 World Cup, the world governing body awarded the 2026 tournament to the USA, Mexico and Canada, a tri-bid that swayed the FIFA electorate with the promise of a $11 billion windfall. The 2026 edition will feature 48 teams for the first time and, with six years to go until kick-off, a field of 23 candidate host cities has emerged across the three nations, following FIFA’s latest workshop covering the US.
Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York/New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Washington DC have all expressed their interest in staging World Cup matches in 2026.
Chicago is notably absent from the candidate host city list. The Windy City and Soldier Field hosted the opening games of the 1994 World Cup between Germany and Bolivia, and also houses the headquarters of US Soccer, but dropped out of the race as early as March 2018 criticizing FIFA over the lack of “a basic level of certainty on some major unknowns that put our city and taxpayers at risk.”
In 1994, the US staged the global finals in nine host cities, including Boston, New Jersey, Orlando, San Francisco, Washington DC and Los Angeles, cities that are in the running for 2026 as well.
In Mexico, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey have emerged as candidate cities and in Canada Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto are in the race. Earlier this year, FIFA already organized workshops with the cities from both Mexico and Canada, the two nations who will play a junior hosting role during the finals.
“The immediate next steps will be conducting one-on-one meeting with the cities and the stadiums all across USA, Canada and Mexico,” said FIFA Chief Tournaments & Events Officer Colin Smith. “We’ll conduct this meetings virtually for now, unfortunately, due to the ongoing COVID situation, but as soon as travel restrictions are lifted we look forward to visiting this venues in person. We’ll bring a team and will look at all the different technical areas from airports, accommodation, transport and, of course, the stadiums.”
The FIFA Council is expected to approve the host cities early next year.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1735142465labto1735142465ofdlr1735142465owedi1735142465sni@o1735142465fni1735142465