By Sulaimon Jamiu
The ultimate footballing body, FIFA has announced 16 host cities for the 24th edition (2026) of the FIFA World Cup at an event in New York City.
FIFA selected 11 cities in the United States, three cities in Mexico and two cities in Canada, as the 2026 FIFA World Cup will mark the first time that three countries have hosted the competition.
The board has listed the hosting cities according to the countries:
UNITED STATES: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle.
MEXICO: Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
CANADA: Toronto, Vancouver
The 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico will host a total of 48 teams and 80 matches under the new expanded format, making it the largest FIFA World Cup tourney in history.
Each of the three host countries had a player representative at the announcement, which was broadcast on FOX Sports 1 and Telemundo, the English and Spanish rights holders, respectively, for the tournament when it is broadcast in the United States.
Chelsea’s midfielder, Christian Pulisic, represented the United States, while Mexico was represented by midfielder Hirving Lozano and Canada by midfielder Jonathan Osorio.
“Together with our good friends in Canada and Mexico, we couldn’t be more excited to work with FIFA to host what we think will be the greatest World Cup in history. I want to congratulate all the bid cities that will host games. I know you will all do a fantastic job of sharing your world class stadiums, unique communities and culture, and amazing fans when the world comes to the North America in four years,” U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone said.
The historic tournament that will entertain 48 participants, will take a major change for the first time since 1998, when the participating countries were increased from 24 to 32.
