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U.S. Soccer revealed on Saturday that a “historic announcement” was coming on Monday. And on Monday, the American soccer federation, along with Mexico and Canada, officially announced their plans for a joint bid to host the 2026 World Cup. Here’s what to know.

What happened?

In New York City with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani (from Canada) and Decio De Maria, the Mexican soccer president, in attendance, the bid was publicly announced. On Thursday, it was reported that the trio would submit a joint bid.

“I can’t think of a better place to [announce plans to bid for World Cup] than with Lady Liberty outside,” Gulati said inside the One World Observatory. 

A new era, a new World Cup

The bid will be for a special, different World Cup. By 2026, the tournament would be expanded to 48 teams and feature 80 matches, more than ever. With that many teams and matches, hosting it in three countries makes sense to be able and spread it out over all of North America and give a good chunk of the region a chance to benefit from the games. That cup will be the first to ever be hosted in three countries. The 2002 World Cup was hosted in South Korea and Japan.

The plan, according to Gulati, is to have the United States host 60 of the 80 possible games, with 10 games apiece in Canada and Mexico.

Why won’t the U.S. bid alone and what potential problems are there?

According to Sports Illustrated, the U.S. is not bidding alone to host the cup because FIFA wants to know for sure that fans and players of all countries will be let into the U.S., which all stems from President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, which has long been looked at as potential complication for the cup, with Gulati even touching on it.

Gulati then had this tweet sent out from his account during the announcement stating Trump’s support of the bid.

Does this mean the cup will be hosted in North America?

No. This is just the trio basically tossing their name into the hat and hoping to be selected. But from here more plans will be developed and plenty of work to be done.

FIFA timeline

FIFA will evaluate bids and more before making a decision. Here is a FIFA timeline, according to the soccer governing body. 

  • June 2017 - December 2018: enhanced phases for bid preparation
  • January 2019 - February 2020: bid evaluation phase
  • May 2020: final decision

For more on the timeline, click here.

Which cities could host matches?

Let’s take a look at the cities that could host matches in the United States, as it is a bit more complicated than Mexico and Canada. In Mexico you’ve got Mexico City, Guadalajara, Guadalupe and Coyocan. In Canada, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver come to mind.

But for the U.S, let’s take a look at the 1994 World Cup. There, matches were played in:

  • Pasadena, California
  • Stanford, California
  • Pontiac, Michigan
  • East Rutherford, New Jersey
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Orlando, Florida
  • Foxborough, Massachusetts
  • Washington, D.C.

Out of those, the ones that make sense are the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, Orlando, Florida, and then some of the 2016 Copa America cities like:

  • CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington
  • NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas

You could also add places like Landover, Maryland to the list, as well as Miami, Florida. 

As for stadiums under construction that make sense:

  • Mercedez-Benz Stadium Atlanta, Georgia
  • Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California

Who else might bid?

Colombia is an option and politicians are already talking about it. The South American country was going to host the 1986 cup, but it got moved to Mexico due to economic issues. Another country that has been rumored to be interested is Morocco. 

Russia will host the World Cup next year, while it will be in Qatar in 2022. The U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994, while Mexico hosted in 1970 and 1986. Canada has never hosted the World Cup. 

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