B.C. Place could host World Cup games in 2026
VANCOUVER — There’s a long way to go, but North America’s top soccer official says Vancouver’s potential to be a World Cup host city is a very big deal for his home town.
Victor Montagliani, president of CONCACAF, the body which overseas soccer in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, called Vancouver being named Tuesday in a list of 44 cities that could potentially host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup a “salivating proposition.”
“We saw what Vancouver did with the Women’s World Cup [in 2015],” he said. “The men’s World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world.
“It’s an opportunity to put Vancouver back on the international sporting map.”
As part of a joint bid by Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to host the FIFA 2026 World Cup, the United Bid Committee of Canada, Mexico and the United States released a list of 49 potential venues in 44 cities on Tuesday.
Included in the list were nine Canadian stadiums in seven cities: McMahon Stadium (Calgary); Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton); Olympic Stadium (Montreal); Saputo Stadium (Montreal); TD Place (Ottawa); Mosaic Stadium (Regina); Rogers Centre (Toronto); BMO Field (Toronto); and B.C. Place (Vancouver).
The North American bid also includes 34 cities in the United States and three in Mexico.
Montagliani said the bid from his region is dealing with geography not much different from next year’s World Cup in Russia. The highly-regarded U.S.-hosted tournament in 1994 had games across the country and adding games in Canada or Mexico isn’t much of a shift.
“What’s the [travel] difference between Vancouver and New York and L.A. and New York,” he said. “The flight from Vancouver to Mexico City is five hours.”
Brazil is a big country — “Rio to Manaus is five hours” — and they hosted the 2014 tournament, he noted.
The bid has to be formally submitted to FIFA by March 2018. The winning bid will be announced on June 13, 2018; Morocco is the only other bid.
The unified bid won’t identify the final host cities before submitting the bid, instead leaving that decision for a later date, assuming they win.
At present, FIFA regulations call for 12 host cities, but since there will be 80 games — FIFA announced the 2026 tournament will feature 48 qualifying teams — Montagliani believes there will be an increased number of host cities.
Ten matches will be played in Canada.
Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi said the potential for Canada to host World Cup games is “fantastic.”
“To be a part of a World Cup, the profile that will come with that will be absolutely huge,” he added. “It will continue to raise the profile of the sport. “There’s a lot to look forward to.” Lenarduzzi was managing the Vancouver 86ers of the Canadian Soccer League when the U.S. was awarded the 1994 tournament in 1988. At the time, he hoped the news would help the financially flailing CSL survive, but while it didn’t, he did not have the benefit of looking back from a Major League Soccer perch. The MLS was launched as part of a condition of the Americans winning the right to host.