Canada–Mexico–United States 2026 FIFA World Cup bid

The Canada–Mexico–United States 2026 FIFA World Cup bid, branded United 2026, is a joint bid among Canada, Mexico, and the United States to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It is competing with Morocco 2026 FIFA World Cup bid for hosting rights. On April 10, 2017, the soccer federation presidents of Canada, Mexico and the United States announced that they would submit a joint bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This would be the first World Cup to be hosted in three countries and the first since 2002 to be held in multiple nations.

The United States would host 60 of the 80 matches while Canada and Mexico would host 10 matches each. There are currently 23 candidate host cities (three in Canada, three in Mexico, and 17 in the United States) in the bid and, if the bid is successful, then the number of host cities in the three countries will be cut down over time to 16, according to the bid book (three in Canada, three in Mexico, and 10 in the United States). All matches from the quarterfinals forward including World Cup Final would take place in the United States.

Background

The three soccer federations of Canada, Mexico and the United States announced interest to submit a bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup years before the federations intended to unify their efforts.

In July 2012, Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani confirmed plans for a Canadian bid, saying: "We have verbally told FIFA that when the bid process begins for the next available World Cup, which would be the 2026 World Cup, that the CSA will be one of the countries putting in a formal proposal". At the time the bid was announced, Canada had hosted the men's 1987 Under-16 World Championship and the U-20 World Cups for both men and women; the country has since hosted the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015. In October 2013, Montagliani confirmed Canada's intention to bid for the 2026 tournament and the Canadian Soccer Association reiterated this in January 2014.

In September 2012, Mexican Football Federation President Justino Compeán confirmed plans for a Mexican bid. In October 2013, Liga MX President said that Mexico is interested in joining forces with the U.S. to co-host a bid for the 2026 World Cup. On December 9, 2014, the Mexican Football Federation confirmed that it is bidding for the 2026 World Cup. If the campaign is successful, Mexico will be the first nation to have hosted the World Cup three times.

On May 13, 2016 at the FIFA Congress in Mexico City, USSF board member John Motta told ESPN "whatever happens, we will bid for the 2026 World Cup -- either jointly (with Mexico or Canada) or we will go it alone." The United States hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup and unsuccessfully bid for the 2022 World Cup, which was won by Qatar in 2010. On April 18, 2015, Brazilian legend Pelé stated that the United States should host the 2026 World Cup.

In December 2016 Victor Montagliani, CONCACAF president announced for the first time a possibility of a joint bid between the United States, Canada and Mexico to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Bid process

Bidding for the 2026 FIFA World Cup was postponed due to the 2015 FIFA corruption case and the subsequent resignation of Sepp Blatter, then it was restarted following the FIFA Council meeting on May 10, 2016, wherein the bidding process will consist of four phases:

• May 2016 – May 2017: a new strategy and consultation phase
• June 2017 – Dec 2017: enhanced phases for bid preparation
• March 2018 – June 2018: bid evaluation
• June 2018: final decision

With no rival bid having emerged since April 2017 the CONCACAF member federations of Canada, Mexico and the United States sent a joint request to FIFA to hasten the bid process. Canada, Mexico and the United States wanted FIFA to award the bid outside the traditional bidding process at the June 2018 FIFA Congress in Moscow if the CONCACAF-bid meets FIFA requirements.

However the FIFA Council decided on May 8, 2017 that FIFA would have a full bidding procedure. In order to ensure continental rotation of hosting duties, only the member associations of CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and the OFC were invited, as these continental confederations had not hosted the two previous World Cups. A date of August 11, 2017 was set for submission of an intention to bid.

FIFA football tournament hosting experiences

Together, Canada, Mexico and the United States have successfully hosted 13 FIFA events, which is the most of any trio of geographically connected nations in the world.

•  Canada
  • 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship
  • 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship
  • 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup
  • 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
  • 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
•  Mexico
  • 1970 FIFA World Cup
  • 1986 FIFA World Cup
  • 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup
  • 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship
  • 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup
•  United States
  • 1994 FIFA World Cup
  • 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
  • 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup

Bid committee

 

On July 6, 2017, a United Bid Committee was officially formed by the National Federations of Canada, Mexico and the United States, to kick off the bidding process to bring the 2026 FIFA World Cup to North America.

Honorary chairman of the board

• Robert Kraft: National Football League and Major League Soccer executive and owner

United bid committee board of directors

• Steven Reed – co-chairman, president of the Canadian Soccer Association
• Decio de María – co-chairman, president of the Mexican Football Federation
• Carlos Cordeiro – co-chairman, president of the United States Soccer Federation
• Victor Montagliani – president of CONCACAF
• Sunil Gulati – FIFA Council member
• Don Garber – commissioner of Major League Soccer
• Dan Flynn – secretary general of U.S. Soccer
• Donna Shalala – trustee professor of Political Science at the University of Miami
• Guillermo Cantu – general secretary of the Mexican Football Federation
• Peter Montopoli – general secretary of the Canadian Soccer Association
• Carlos Bocanegra – technical director of Atlanta United FC
• Julie Foudy – founder of Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy and television analyst and reporter for ESPN/ABC
• Ed Foster-Simeon – president and CEO of U.S. Soccer Foundation

United bid committee executive team

• John Kristick – executive director for the united bid committee
• Jim Brown – managing director, technical operations
• Peter Montopoli – Canada bid director
• Yon De Luisa – Mexico bid director

Potential venues

On August 15, 2017, the United Bid Committee released a list of 49 stadiums in 44 metropolitan markets across the three nations which will be considered for the official bid.The United Bid Committee plans to include 20-25 venues in the official bid, which will be sent to FIFA in March 2018. Stadiums must have a capacity of at least 40,000 for group round matches and at least 80,000 for the Opening Match and Final.

On September 7, 2017, the United Bid Committee announced that a total of 41 cities (with 44 venues) had submitted bids marking their official declaration of interest to be included in the final bid: Almost a month later, on October 4, 2017, the list of cities was cut down to 32 with 35 venues. During U.S. Soccer's annual general meeting in Orlando in February 2018, Gulati revealed that the list of cities had been cut down to 26 with 29 venues.

On March 14, 2018 Vancouver, Minneapolis and Chicago all announced that they were dropping out as potential host cities. All three cities cited concerns over the financial transparency of being a host city and cited FIFA's unwillingness to negotiate financial details as reasons for their decisions; the bid committee announced the next day they had reduced the number of cities in the bid to 23. 

Cities had to submit written proposals to the United Bid Committee by January 19, 2018, before being selected by the committee.

The official bid has proposed the "main" opening match be held in either the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City or at the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles area, that all three host countries' teams would host their first matches on the first day of the tournament and that the final match be held at MetLife Stadium in the New York City area. The bid also proposed that the two semi-final matches would be held at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. All of the other cities in the American portion of the bid are under consideration for quarter-final matches. The bid book proposal calls for Mexico and Canada to each host seven group-stage games, two matches in the round of 32, and one in the round of 16.

A denotes stadium used for previous men's World Cup tournaments

A denotes an indoor stadium

Canada

Montreal, Quebec	Edmonton, Alberta	Toronto, Ontario
Olympic Stadium	Commonwealth Stadium	BMO Field
Capacity: 61,004 (Bid book capacity: 55,822) (Expandable to 73,000)	Capacity: 56,302 (Bid book capacity: 56,418)	Capacity: 30,000 (Expanding to 45,500 for tournament)
Edmonton Montreal Toronto

Mexico

Mexico City	Monterrey, Nuevo Leon	Guadalajara, Jalisco
Estadio Azteca	Estadio BBVA Bancomer	Estadio Akron
Capacity: 87,523	Capacity: 53,500 (Bid book capacity: 53,460)	Capacity: 46,232 (Bid book capacity: 48,071)
Mexico City Monterrey Guadalajara

United States

Los Angeles, California	New York City, New York	Washington, D.C.	Dallas, Texas
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA)	MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey)	FedExField (Landover, Maryland)	AT&T Stadium (Arlington, TX)
Capacity: 92,000 (Bid book capacity: 88,432)	Capacity: 82,500 (Bid book capacity: 87,157)	Capacity: 82,000 (Bid book capacity: 70,249)	Capacity: 80,000 (Bid book capacity: 92,967) (expandable to 100,000)
Kansas City, Missouri	Denver, Colorado	Houston, Texas	Baltimore, Maryland
Arrowhead Stadium	Sports Authority Field at Mile High	NRG Stadium	M&T Bank Stadium
Capacity: 76,416 (Bid book capacity: 76,640)	Capacity: 76,125 (Bid book capacity: 77,595)	Capacity: 71,795 (Bid book capacity: 72,220)	Capacity: 71,006 (Bid book capacity: 70,976)
Atlanta, Georgia	Atlanta Baltimore Boston Cincinnati Dallas Denver Houston Kansas City Los Angeles Miami Nashville NYC/NJ Orlando Philadelphia San Francisco/ San Jose Seattle Washington, D.C.

American proposed venues
			Mercedes-Benz Stadium
			Capacity: 71,000 (Bid book capacity: 75,000) (expandable to 83,000)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Nashville, Tennessee	Seattle, Washington	San Francisco/San Jose, California
Lincoln Financial Field	Nissan Stadium	CenturyLink Field	Levi's Stadium (Santa Clara, CA)
Capacity: 69,176 (Bid book capacity: 69,328)	Capacity: 69,143 (Bid book capacity: 69,722) (expandable to 75,000)	Capacity: 69,000 (expandable to 72,000)	Capacity: 68,500 (Bid book capacity: 70,909) (expandable to 75,000)
Boston, Massachusetts	Cincinnati, Ohio	Miami, Florida	Orlando, Florida
Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, MA)	Paul Brown Stadium	Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, FL)	Camping World Stadium
Capacity: 65,878 (Bid book capacity: 70,000)	Capacity: 65,515 (Bid book capacity: 67,402)	Capacity: 64,767 (Bid book capacity: 67,518)	Capacity: 60,219 (Bid book capacity: 65,000)

Venues excluded since start of bidding process

Birmingham

Cleveland

Indianapolis

Jacksonville

New Orleans

Ottawa

Pittsburgh

Regina

San Antonio

Calgary

Green Bay

Montreal (Saputo)

San Diego

Los Angeles (MC and HP)

Toronto (Rogers)

Charlotte

Detroit

Las Vegas

Phoenix

Salt Lake City

Tampa

Vancouver

Chicago

Minneapolis

Dallas (Cotton Bowl)

 

Venues that voluntarily dropped out during application process

Chicago, Illinois	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Vancouver, British Columbia
Soldier Field	U.S. Bank Stadium	BC Place
Capacity: 61,500	Capacity: 66,655 (expandable to 73,000)	Capacity: 54,500

Venues not selected as host cities bid (2nd round)

The following cities were not selected as host cities bid, according to Sunil Gulati, during the 2018 US Soccer Annual General Meeting.^[31]

Charlotte, North Carolina	Dallas, Texas	Detroit, Michigan
Bank of America Stadium	Cotton Bowl	Ford Field
Capacity: 75,525	Capacity: 92,100	Capacity: 65,000 (expandable to 70,000)
Las Vegas, Nevada	Los Angeles, California
Las Vegas Stadium (under construction)	Memorial Coliseum	Hollywood Park
Capacity: 72,000	Capacity: 93,607	Capacity: 70,240 (expandable to 100,000) (under construction)
Phoenix, Arizona	Salt Lake City, Utah	Tampa, Florida
University of Phoenix Stadium	Rice-Eccles Stadium	Raymond James Stadium
Capacity: 63,400 (expandable to 78,600)	Capacity: 48,600	Capacity: 65,890 (expandable to 75,000)

Venues submitted bid, but not selected as potential venues (1st round)

Birmingham, Alabama	Cleveland, Ohio	Indianapolis, Indiana
Legion Field	FirstEnergy Stadium	Lucas Oil Field
Capacity: 71,594	Capacity: 67,895	Capacity: 62,421 (expandable to 70,000)
Jacksonville, Florida	New Orleans, Louisiana	Ottawa, Ontario
EverBank Field	Mercedes-Benz Superdome	TD Place Stadium
Capacity: 69,132 (expandable to 82,000)	Capacity: 73,208 (expandable to 76,438)	Capacity: 24,000
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Regina, Saskatchewan	San Antonio, Texas
Heinz Field	Mosaic Stadium	Alamodome
Capacity: 69,690	Capacity: 33,350 (expandable to 40,000)	Capacity: 64,000

Venues contacted, but did not submit bid

Calgary, Alberta	Green Bay, Wisconsin	Montreal, Quebec	San Diego, California	Toronto, Ontario
McMahon Stadium	Lambeau Field	Saputo Stadium	SDCCU Stadium	Rogers Centre
Capacity: 35,400 (expandable to 46,020)	Capacity: 81,441	Capacity: 20,801	Capacity: 70,561	Capacity: 54,000

Support

Football confederations

• Oceania Football Confederation
• CONCACAF
• CONMEBOL

FIFA members

Public opinion

On October 24, 2017, a survey of adults in Canada, Mexico, and the United States showed a broad support for Canada–United States–Mexico bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It found that 77% of North American residents are in favor of hosting the first-ever 48-team FIFA World Cup, and 81% of respondents across the three countries agree that hosting the tournament would be good for their specific country. Also, nearly six in 10 (57 percent) of those surveyed say they would be interested in attending FIFA World Cup matches if the games were played near where they live or work.

U.S. Senators

On February 21, 2018, a group of 44 U.S. senators, including Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), wrote a letter to support the United 2026 FIFA World Cup Bid. The full list is available below:

U.S. House of Representatives

On April 20, 2018, Representatives Darin LaHood and fellow co-chairs of the Congressional Soccer Caucus Kathy Castor (FL-14), Don Bacon (NE-02), Ruben Kihuen (NV-04) introduced a resolution to recognize and support the efforts of the United Bid Committee to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The US House of Representatives adopted this resolution on April 25, 2018.

Other government officials

Toronto city councillors Mark Grimes and Cesar Palacio support the bid, as well as Mayor John Tory. Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante supports it.

U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also all support the bid for 2026 FIFA World Cup.

On March 13, 2018, Canadian Minister of Sport Kirsty Duncan announced in Ottawa the Canadian federal government officially threw its support behind the North American bid for the 2026 World Cup, with the promise of up to $5 million in immediate help should the unified bid win.

Sports figures

Olympic gold medalists in curling John Shuster, Matt Hamilton, Tyler George, John Landsteiner, and Joe Polo have announced their support for the bid.

Former basketball player Dikembe Mutombo supports the bid.

Marketing

The bid is branded "United 2026", the logo of the bid is a ball with the number 26 representing the year "2026" with the colors of the flags of Canada, Mexico and the United States and the slogan is: "United, As One", (Spanish: "Unidos Como Uno"), (French: "Unis Comme Un").

Opinions

FIFA officials

On December 28, 2017, during a sports business conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, FIFA President Gianni Infantino considered Canada–Mexico–United States 2026 FIFA World Cup bid to be a positive message.

Criticism

U.S. President Donald Trump's anti-immigration laws have been touted as a potential risk, but assurances were later given by the government that no there would be such discrimination. On April 28 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted a post threatening the countries that would not support the bid.