US, Mexico, Canada in joint bid for 2026 World Cup
NEW YORK: The United States, Mexico and Canada on Monday announced a joint bid to stage the 2026 World Cup, aiming to become the first three-way co- hosts in the history of FIFA’s showpiece tournament.
US Soccer Federation chief Sunil Gulati, who announced the bid in New York with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts, insisted they had the ful l backing of President Donald Trump, despite the US leader’s rocky relations with Mexico.
Gulati said 60 of the tournament’s matches would be staged in the United States, with Canada and Mexico hosting 10 games each. The United States would host all knockout games from the quarterfinals onwards, he added.
He played down the possibility that politics could hamper the bid, emphasising that Trump was “especially pleased” with Mexico’s involvement.
“The president of the US is fully supportive... We are not at all concerned at some of the concerns that some people may raise,” Gulati said.
Trump was elected last year after a campaign marked by rhetoric against Mexico, vowing to bui ld a wal l to keep out illegal immigrants he branded “criminals” and “rapists.”
The joint bid will start as the heavy early favorite in the race, despite United States prosecutors leading the probe into football corruption which rocked the sport in 2015 and led to the downfall of former FIFA supremo Sepp Blatter. - An open secret - A bid from the North America region for 2026 had long been regarded as inevitable by FIFA watchers.
That sense of certainty hardened last year, when FIFA’s council ruled that neither Europe nor Asia would be eligible to run for the 2026 tournament on the grounds that the regions are hosting the next two World Cups. Russia is hosting the 2018 finals, followed by Qatar in 2022.
With Europe and Asia ineligible, CONCACAF could in theory face potential competition from the Africa, SouthAmericaandOceania regional confederations.
US soccer officials had been publicly coy about the possibility of a future World Cup bid since the country lost out to Qatar in the battle for the 2022 tournament at a corruption-tarnished vote in Zurich in 2010. — AFP