US, Canada, Mexico launch joint bid to host 2026 world cup
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Apr 16, 2017
Soccer leaders from the U.S., Canada and Mexico announced a joint bid to host the expanded 48-team World Cup in 2026, promising an event that would bring in more money than any previous iteration of the world's biggest sporting event.
Gulati said 60 of the tournament's matches would be staged in the United States, with Canada and Mexico hosting 10 games each.
The bid also comes at a time while the current US president, Donald Trump, has implemented an aggressive stance on immigration enforcement and wants to build a wall at the US-Mexico border.
"We outlined through someone who was communicating directly with the president what we wanted to do, and the message we got back was that the president encouraged us to go forward ... said he was supportive of it and very pleased that Mexico was a part of it", Gulati told reporters.
While the bid is being branded as being from all three countries, it clearly favours the United States.
The heads of the organizations said at a news conference in NY that the three North American countries had been discussing the idea of a joint bid quietly for three or four years. In the last few days we've gotten further encouragement on that.
"We don't believe sport can solve all the issues in the world but, especially with what's going on in the world today, we believe this is a hugely positive signal and symbol of what we can do together in unifying people, especially in our three countries", Gulati said.
No nation from CONCACAF, the governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has hosted the tournament since the United States in 1994. The US also hosted women's World Cups in 2003 and 1999, while Mexico has hosted men's World Cups in 1986 and 1970, and Canada had the women's World Cup in 2015.
According to Press Association analysis, the USA probably has the facilities to host a tournament by itself tomorrow. The expansion will begin after the World Cups in Russian Federation and Qatar. All matches from the quarter-finals onwards would be in the U.S.
The officials said the three-country bid would save money and help each country promote football at home. Europe has 55 members in the Congress, Africa 54, Asia 46, Concacaf 35, Oceania 11 and South America 10.
Africa and South America are eligible to bid but no countries from those continents have publicly declared an interest.
Federation Internationale de Football Association members will also be asked to consider the "election or dismissal" leaders of its judicial bodies, including the ethics committee. "And given what's happened in the last World Cups and some of the Olympic Games, the thought of building sports facilities that don't have a long term use is not one that's particularly inviting for anyone".
