North America gets the nod, now Edmonton must as well
23 cities in bid will be cut to 16, with finances front and centre
The biggest sporting event in the world could be on its way to Edmonton.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup was awarded to the United North American bid submitted by Canada, the United States and Mexico on Wednesday morning at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow.
Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal are the three Canadian cities provisionally designated to host games at the 2026 tournament, which is expanding to 48 teams from the current 32-team format.
“I’m really excited at the prospect of entertaining the 2026 World Cup in our country,” Canada Soccer president Steven Reed said on a conference call from Russia. “We have three wonderful cities that have had great success in hosting international sporting events. I think all of those cities are excited to be part of this process.”
Edmonton’s Alphonso Davies, 17, spoke in the United Bid’s final presentation to the Congress before 200 FIFA delegates were asked to vote. The North American bid received 134 votes, defeating a bid from Morocco, which obtained 65 votes. One delegate refused to vote for either bid.
The successful North American bid brings the men’s World Cup to Canada for the first time. The majority of the 80 matches will be played in the United States, which hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Mexico played host to the 1970 World Cup and 1986 World Cup. Canada and Mexico are each expected to host 10 games.
Of the 23 cities included in the original North American bid, 16 will be chosen and utilized for the 2026 tournament. Each candidate city will likely have to make financial assurances to FIFA before being granted official host status.
The Edmonton commitment ranges from $30 million to $50 million. According to Mayor Don Iveson, the city would reach out to the provincial government for financial support. A decision on funding is expected in 2020.
“Obviously, sooner is better because we’d like to have some momentum around this bid,” Iveson said. “We’d like to have a sense of certainty that we’re going to be included in the final 16 cities.”
Individual municipalities will be responsible for stadium upgrades and other costs. The North American bid guaranteed all games would be played on natural grass, which means the artificial turf at Commonwealth Stadium would have to be replaced for the tournament.
And, despite being included as a destination city in the original bid, Edmonton is not guaranteed to be a final host.
“It would be a huge lost opportunity, given the facility that we have, given the opportunity that we have to put Edmonton on the world stage again,” Iveson said. “We’ve shown that Edmontonians are huge fans of the beautiful game and want to be able to see it played at the highest level in our city.”
Canada has been the site of numerous FIFA events in the past, including the men’s Under-16 World Championship in 1987, the 2002 under-19 women’s World Championship, the 2007 men’s Under-20 World Cup, the 2014 Under-20 Women’s World Cup and the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
Edmonton hosted 11 matches of the Women’s World Cup in 2015, which included the opening game of the tournament between Canada and China, a semifinal, and the third-place game.
As co-hosts, the Canadian national team is expected to gain an automatic berth in the 2026 tournament with the United States and Mexico. Canada’s sole World Cup appearance was in 1986 in Mexico, where it did not score a goal, losing to France, Hungary and the Soviet Union in the group stage.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for us; this is obviously a worldclass event, a scope of which we haven’t seen in our country,” added Reed. “It’s one of the strongest sports, the largest sports and I think it can become the preeminent sport in our country. That’s the legacy that we’d like to see.”
We’d like to have a sense of certainty that we’re going to be included in the final 16 cities.