By Safaa Kasraoui
Rabat – The United States, Canada and Mexico have announced details regarding their joint bid for the 2026 World Cup. The bid was announced during a press conference held at One World Trade Centre in New York City, on April 10.
In the presence of Canada Soccer Association president, Victor Montagliani and, Mexican federation president, Decio De Maria, the president of the U.S Football Federation, Sunil Gulati, announced their bid.
Gulati told the press that this ambitious joint-bid was the right decision for the future of soccer on the Northern American continent. “We have the full support of the United States government in this project,” said Gulati.
He added that having three countries involved in the project will make them feel stronger and represent a symbol of positive unity in the world. The three allied countries have a combined total of about 50 stadiums that conform to FIFA standards, in addition to ample hotel infrastructures.
Each of the three countries have previously hosted global competitions. Mexico hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cup. Eight years later, in 1994, the United States took their turn to host the competition. The tournament consisted of 24-teams and 52 games with more than 3.5 million spectators, despite a late extension of the format to include 32 teams and 64 games. Canada’s World Cup experience consists of hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015.
Two African nations and one European country have also decided to take a shot at challenging the North American coalition over hosting the 2026 World Cup.
After Portugal dropped out of the Morocco/Spain bid for the competition, Morocco chose the Ivory Coast to replace Portugal in their bid to host World Cup 2026. Morocco has made previous bids to host the global competition in 1994, 1998 and 2006.
Morocco’s chance to win the candidacy is thought to be higher this time. This is attributed to the country’s growing expertise in organizing international competitions like the FIFA Club World Cup in 2013 and 2014.
The next two World Cup competitions are scheduled to take place in Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022). FIFA will designate the host countries for the 2026 World Cup in May of 2020.
