Canada has worked for years to host Cup

Montagliani describes long road to joint bid for soccer’s ‘granddaddy of them all’

TORONTO It started in November 2010 with a meal at Vancouver’s Il Giardino restaurant.

Victor Montagliani, then vicepresident of the Canadian Soccer Association, and Peter Montopoli, the association’s general secretary, were sharing a meal with mentor Walter Sieber, directorgeneral of sports at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and a man plugged into the world governing body of soccer.

“We were in the middle of our (2015) Women’s World Cup process bidding and Walter looked at me and said, ‘Listen, once you become (CSA) president, I think the time is right for Canada to look at bidding (for the men’s World Cup),’” Montagliani recalled.

“I looked at Peter at that moment and I said, ‘Peter, we’re going to do it and it’s going to be part of our strat (strategic) plan when we launch it after I become president. And this is what we’re going to do,’” he added. “Peter didn’t say yes or no. He just said it with his eyes, basically saying, ‘OK, we’re ready to go.’ ”

Much has changed.

A 32-team affair when Montagliani hatched his plan over pasta, the men’s World Cup has morphed into a 48-country behemoth. Montagliani, subsequently elected to two terms as president of Canada Soccer, has moved up the world soccer ladder to become president of CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean, and a FIFA vicepresident.

But Canada carried through on its World Cup bid, albeit in conjunction with Mexico and the U.S. On Wednesday, the three countries will learn whether they have bested underdog Morocco in a vote of 200-plus FIFA members associations at the FIFA Council in Moscow to decide the host of the 2026 World Cup.

It’s a multi-billion-dollar decision.

The united bid of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. comes with a budgeted cost of US$2.16-billion. It projects revenue of $14.3 billion.

After becoming president in 2012, Montagliani spoke of his World Cup plans. But Canada’s intent to bid was made formal in January 2014 when the CSA released its 2014-18 strategic plan titled Leading a Soccer Nation.

Montagliani and Montopoli began working the rounds of government, “working the backrooms” to keep momentum.

Talks expanded to the U.S. and Mexico soccer authorities. In 2015, around the Women’s World Cup, Montagliani had a handshake agreement with his U.S. and Mexican counterparts to go forward together.

The joint bid to host the newly expanded tournament was officially announced in April 2017.

The bid blueprint calls for Canada and Mexico to host 10 games each, with the U.S. hosting 60. But that could change after FIFA chooses the host and takes charge of the tournament.

Montopoli says two things were crucial to the Canadian campaign.

One was the Women’s World Cup in 2015, whose success Montopoli says “resonated all over the world.” He said FIFA member associations still “rave” about it.

The other key was Montagliani becoming CONCACAF president in May 2016.

“We had everything covered from credibility point of view for us to get us over the goal-line,” Montopoli said.