U.S. Selected as 2026 World Cup 'Tri-Host'

Alexi Lalas (right) shown playing for the U.S. in the 1994
World Cup, he last year Copa Mundial was held
in the United States.

 

By Bob Phillips


MOSCOW—As the world prepares for the 2018 World Cup, to be played in Russia beginning on Thursday, FIFA announced in an unprecedented move that the 2016 tournament host will be “North America,” with Mexico, Canada and the United States sharing honors as host nations.

This will be the first time three countries will simultaneously play host to Copa Mundial, the world’s most popular sporting event. In 2002, Japan and South Korea served as co-hosts.

Tagged as “United 2026,” North America was selected with 134 votes to Morocco’s 65, by FIFA, the sport’s governing body, in Moscow on Wednesday. United 2026 is expected to generate in excess of $11 billion in profits. The United States did not qualify for this year’s tournament.

The 2016 tournament will expand to 48 teams from the current 32, and will consist of 16 three-team groupings from which the top two will advance to the round of 32. Mexico has served as host nation twice previously (1970 and 1986), and the U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994. This will be Canada’s first time hosting the tournament.

Existing infrastructure, including a bevy of world-class stadiums already built, was one of FIFA’s primary reasons for selecting North America over Morocco. The U.S. has proposed hosting 60 of the tournament’s 80 matches—including all from the quarterfinals onward. MetLife Stadium in New Jersey has been projected as a favorite to host the final if the North American triad is selected. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., was the site of the World Cup Final in 1994, when Brazil defeated Italy for the world championship.

The selection flies in the face of a proposed ban on Muslims entering the country by Donald J. Trump, who currently serves as president. Rest assured, the man who sees himself as the United States’ supreme leader wrote to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, stating that his whackadoodle visa policies would not apply to the World Cup.

Whew! Doesn’t that make you feel better?

Those connected to the sport at its highest levels are hoping that the tournament returning to North America will generate the kind of excitement seen in 1994.

“I lived the power of what a World Cup can do for an individual country,” said Alexi Lalas, one of the stars of the U.S. team in 1994. “We haven’t had a lot from a positive perspective to be happy about as of late. That’s something we could use and look to as a shining light.”

—with staff reports