VA - Voices From The FIFA World Cup (2006)

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 2026, in 16 cities from June 11 to July 19, 2026. The United States will host 60 matches, while neighboring Canada and Mexico will host ten each. The tournament will feature 48 teams, the first time in World Cup history. It will be the first World Cup to be co-hosted by three countries. Argentina are the defending champions, having defeated France in the 2022 final. The United 2026 bid defeated Morocco in the final round at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow. It will be the first World Cup to be hosted by more than one country since 2002. Mexico will become the first country to host the Men's World Cup three times, having hosted in 1970 and 1986. The United States last hosted the World Cup in 1994, while Canada will host the tournament for the first time. The tournament will return to its usual summer schedule after the 2022 tournament was held in November and December.

At the time of the bid submission, 41 cities were officially proposed, with 43 existing stadiums and two under construction (three stadiums and three cities in Mexico, nine stadiums and seven cities in Canada, and 38 stadiums and 34 cities in the United States). Nine stadiums in nine cities were eliminated in the first round, and nine venues in six cities in the second round. Three cities (Chicago, Minneapolis, and Vancouver) were also eliminated because FIFA was unwilling to negotiate financial investments in the venues. This left 23 cities and 24 stadiums after the first two rounds. After Montreal withdrew in July 2021, Vancouver re-joined the competition in April 2022. This leaves a total of 24 stadiums, all in separate cities or regions. While there are stadiums dedicated to soccer in both Canada and the United States, the largest is Geodis Park in Nashville, which has a capacity of only 30,000, 10,000 short of the minimum required by FIFA (Toronto's stadium, a 30,000-seat MLS stadium, will be expanded to 45,000 for the World Cup). However, several stadiums, such as Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and Lumen Field in Seattle, are used by both MLS and NFL teams. Although these stadiums are primarily used for American football, and the Canadian venues are home to the Canadian American Football League, they have all been used for soccer matches. On 16 June 2022, FIFA announced the official host cities, divided into three geographical regions: Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Guadalajara in the Western Group, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Monterrey and Mexico City in the Central Group, and Toronto, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Miami in the Eastern Group (two in Canada, three in Mexico and eleven in the United States). Mexico City is the only capital city to host a match, after Ottawa and Washington were not awarded the right to host. Washington was a candidate, but merged its bid with Baltimore due to the poor condition of FedEx Field. Other cities that were ultimately not awarded the right to host the tournament were Cincinnati, Denver, Nashville, Orlando and Edmonton. Ottawa's candidate stadium, TD Place Stadium, was eliminated due to its low capacity. None of the stadiums used in the 1994 World Cup in the United States will be venues in 2026, while Azteca is the only one used in the 1970 and 1986 World Cups in Mexico.