2026 FIFA World Cup will expand to 48 teams from 32
War of tweets between President Donald Trump of the US and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada over taxes and duties notwithstanding, the joint bid committee of the US, Canada and Mexico scored over Morocco to earn the right to host the 2026 FIFA world cup in the continent. For Canada, it is a new beginning in men's soccer as the biggest and most popular sporting event on the planet is coming to Canada for the first time.
FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting event after summer Olympic Games. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the biggest ever as 48 teams will qualify for it against 32 at present. The increased number of participating teams may also give automatic qualification to all three co-hosts though it will need FIFA approval at a special meeting.
Canada, USA and Mexico, all have held the summer Olympic Games.Canada and USA have also played host to Winter Olympic Games.
Only yesterday, the new elect Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, had supported the "United Bid" saying the big sporting events should come t Canada.
In a historic vote held in Moscow on Wednesday, the “United Bid” of Canada, Mexico and the United States scored over Morocco to win the right to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, marking the first time that international soccer’s marquee event will touch down on Canadian soil.
The “United Bid” won the vote over Morocco during a special congressional meeting where every single member nation of FIFA, excluding the four potential host countries, cast a ballot.
Mexico previously hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986. The United States staged the tournament in 1994. Canada has never held the competition, but it did host the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
Canada’s only appearance at the World Cup came in 1986 when it lost all three of its games and crashed out in the first round.
Historically, the host nation has always automatically qualified for the World Cup. It is not forced to play games in order to qualify for the tournament.
However, FIFA previously ruled that should the “United bid” beat out Morocco, the number of host countries to automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup would be decided by another vote by the FIFA council sometime in the future.
The 2026 World Cup will expand to 48 teams from 32, and will feature a new format of 16 round-robin groups of three teams with the top two from each pool advancing to a 32-nation knockout round. The tournament will still take place over 32 days.
The “United Bid” calls for the U.S. to host 60 matches, including all games from the quarter-finals through to the final. Canada and Mexico would each host 10 games.
Three Canadian cities – Edmonton, Montreal, and Toronto – could potentially host matches. The “United Bid’s” organizing committee will now work in conjunction with FIFA to decide which cities will get games, although FIFA makes the final call.
The American candidate cities are 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, D.C.
The Mexican candidate cities are Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey.
In total, 23 cities are part of the “United Bid,” and 16 cities will be selected by FIFA to host games.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off on Thursday, with host Russia taking on Saudi Arabia at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. The 2022 FIFA World Cup will take place in Qatar.
It is pertinent to mention that the immediate past President of the US Soccer body, Sunil Gulati, initiated the bid and and headed the bid committee. He, however, decided not to seek re-election early this year.
