FIFA changes means no rival yet for North American World Cup bid

MANCHESTER, (Reuters) - The bidding process has yet to begin but the joint proposal from the United States, Canada and Mexico to host the 2026 World Cup is already the heavy favourite to win.

A series of decisions made by the sport’s governing body FIFA, since the scandal over the voting for the 2018 and 2022 editions, have loaded the dice heavily in favour of the North American bid.

In October, FIFA’s ruling body decided that no country could bid for the 2026 hosting if their continental confederation had hosted one of the two preceding tournaments.

The controversial 2010 decision awarded 2018 to Russia and 2022 to Qatar meaning, unless there is a major change of heart from FIFA, no European or Asian country can compete with the North American bid.

That leaves Africa, South America and Oceania as potential bidders, but no candidate has emerged so far, although the Confederation of African Football has talked, in vague terms, about a possible Moroccan bid.

FIFA have also voted to expand the World Cup to 48 teams for the 2026 edition, requiring more facilities to handle the increase to 80 games, while also opening the door to joint bids.

FIFA had been against joint bids since the only time such an approach was tried in 2002, when South Korea and Japan held the month-long event, but the organisation’s president Gianni Infantino has been vocal in his support for the idea.

The U.S, with its many modern stadiums, mainly used by the National Football League (NFL), has the capacity to host an expanded tournament alone but Infantino’s opening to multi-national hosting provided a handy political solution for U.S.Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati.

Gulati, who is also a FIFA council member and played a key role in helping Infantino win the presidency of FIFA in February, 2016, is a wily operator and by bringing Mexico and Canada into his bid has eliminated from