The countdown to the World Cup 2026 begins on Thursday, when soccer fans in Canada, Mexico, and the United States learn whether their cities were chosen to host the 48-team tournament.
Four years after FIFA selected the tri-country North American bid, the world football governing body will announce the host cities following a lengthy and mysterious process.
According to FIFA, with 22 host cities still in the running this week, many expect the United States to select ten of its candidates, with Vancouver, Edmonton, and Toronto competing to the north.
In Mexico, where soccer is less a sport than a religion, three candidate cities – Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey – are all but assured the gig.
Of course, anything can happen ahead of Thursday’s media spectacle in New York City.
“Some of the cities understood probably from the beginning they were a longer shot than others … Fiveor six cities, almost anybody in the world would say, ‘Well, clearly they’re part of the package’,” former U.S. Soccer President Alan Rothenberg, now chairman of Playfly Premier Partnerships said.
Los Angeles is widely regarded as an obvious candidate, with its glitzy new $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium, as is global hub New York, whose joint bid with New Jersey is anchored by the 82,500-capacity MetLife Stadium.
Other contenders include Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, Orlando, and Washington, D.C., which combined its bid with Baltimore this year.
