Fifa awards World Cup 2026 to US, Canada and Mexico after vote at Congress in Moscow
Of the 200 member associations to cast their vote, 134 decide to bring the tournament back to North America for the first time since 1994
The United 2026 joint bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico has won the right to host the 2026 Fifa World Cup after Fifa’s member associations met at the Fifa Congress in Moscow ahead of the kick-off of Russia 2018.
A total of 200 voters from Fifa’s member associations decided between Morocco or North America as host of the 2026 World Cup, while Cuba, Slovenia and Spain abstained.
Delegates could also choose to vote for neither option – which only Iran did – and the decision had been described as too close to call on Tuesday.
The four bidding nations were ineligible from voting, while Ghana were not in attendance.
Three US territories did not vote although American Samoa did on account of their delegate holding a New Zealand passport.
The vote went 134 votes to 65 in favour of the United 2026 bid, with fellow finalist Morocco missing out on becoming only the second African nation to host the event after South Africa in 2010.
“Thank you for entrusting us with the privilege of hosting the Fifa World Cup in 2026,” said Carlos Cordeiro, president of the US Soccer Federation.
“It’s a bit emotional for us today. The beautiful game transcends borders and cultures. Football today is the only victor and in that spirit, we wish our Russian hosts and all the teams participating here this month, the very best of luck.”
The United States held the World Cup in 1994 while Mexico held it in 1986. This will be the first time Canada has hosted men’s World Cup finals games having hosted the Women’s World Cup in 2015.
The congress was presided over by Fifa’s head Gianni Infantino while it was opened by Russian president Vladimir Putin, who received a standing ovation from attendees at Moscow’s Expocentre.
The vote to decide the host for the 2026 World Cup was the biggest item on the agenda for Fifa’s 68th congress, which also included a joint proposal by several South American football associations to launch a feasibility study on increasing the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in Qatar in 2022.
The United 2026 bid is led by the US and they will provide 10 of the 16 host cities for the tournament and host 60 of the 80 matches, including the final, which is slated for MetLife Stadium outside New York City.
