2026 World Cup Host City Bids Submitted

March 16, 2018 is a date that looms large in the future of American soccer. It isn’t because there is a crucial World Cup qualifier or exciting international friendly scheduled that day though. Rather, March of next year is when 2026 World Cup bids are due to FIFA. In preparation for the bid, United 2026, the name chosen for the joint effort of the United States, Canada, and Mexico to host the World Cup, has released the list of 41 cities that expressed interest in serving as host cities from the original list of 44 that were named last month.

As far as the cities that did not submit a bid to the committee, Green Bay, Wisconsin and San Diego, California from the U.S. and Calgary, Alberta, Canada are not included in the final 41 cities from the list of 44 that was announced in August.

United 2026 Committee Executive Director commented about the cities interested in hosting the tournament, saying:

“The Host Cities will help define the United Bid. Each will offer the best facilities and infrastructure to stage the world’s biggest single-event sporting competition, the FIFA World Cup, and together they will play a key role in the development of the sport in North America. We’re thrilled with the submissions that we have received, especially each city’s commitment to innovation and sustainability, and we look forward to bringing the best group of candidate host cities together for our official United Bid.”

Of the 41 cities, the United Bid will choose 25-20 cities to be included in the bid submitted to FIFA in March. The statement released today did not mention it, but in the past the United Bid noted that it would release a shortlist by late September with final bids from those cities due by January. To determine which cities will be included, a press release from the bid organizers noted that, “After the initial shortlist is released, the Bid Committee will provide more detailed bid information to cities and hold meetings to discuss questions as candidate cities prepare their final bids.”

The cities included in the list below submitted information about hosting past major sporting and cultural events, the venues that would hold the matches, accommodations for attendees, transportation options, and environmental protection projects.

Aside from the basic requirement of having a stadium with the capacity to hold 40,000 spectators for group matches or at least 80,000 fans for the opening and final games, the bid committed noted that it, “will also evaluate cities on their commitment to sustainable event management, aspirations to develop soccer, and the positive social impact they anticipate stemming from the event in the local community and beyond.”

In addition to the tripartite bid, Morocco will also be submitting an application to host the tournament. The North African nation appears to have some tough competition from the list of venues that the United Bid released today.