Pulisic shouts out Miami as a ’26 World Cup host city
When it comes to the World Cup 2026 host city Christian Pulisic is most excited about, there’s only one word you need to know: ¡Dale!
Speaking to Fox Sports 1 after FIFA unveiled the host cities for the men’s tournament Thursday, the USMNT captain shouted out Miami as a city he was particularly looking forward to seeing.
“I think Miami is a really exciting one for me,” he said. “You know, my family is living down there now, and that’s going to be an amazing atmosphere for sure.”
Pulisic is a Pennsylvania native, so there were natural assumptions he’d highlight Philadelphia. Unsurprisingly, though, he said he’s looking forward to “really, all of them. Just to be in this continent, it’s going to be special.”
Hard Rock Stadium, a 64,767-seat stadium that is normally home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and the Miami Hurricanes, is technically a few miles north of Miami proper, though that likely won’t make a difference to fans based locally or coming in from abroad to one of the USA’s most tourist-friendly cities.
The tournament coming to Miami will be a first. South Florida did not host any games during the 1994 men’s World Cup, with Florida’s games instead taking place in Orlando.
The combined bid of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore was not selected to host matches, as the nation’s capital made unwanted history. For only the second time in men’s World Cup history, the capital of a host country will not host any matches. The only other time was in 1974, when the West German capital of Bonn did not host a match.
Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Seattle and Kansas City, Missouri, were also the newcomers among the 11 U.S. sites picked to host games, while Cincinnati,
Denver, Nashville, Tennessee, and Orlando, Florida, were left out.
Arlington, Texas; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Foxborough, Massachusetts; and Inglewood and Santa Clara, California, were the holdovers.
FIFA also picked three Mexican cities and two in Canada. Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, which hosted the 1970 and ’86 finals, was selected along with Guadalajara’s Estadio Akron and Monterrey’s Estadio BBVA. Toronto’s BMO Field and Vancouver, British Columbia’s B.C. Place were picked.