[Archive 2018-06-14] Football: Canada, Mexico and US wins joint bid to host 2026 FIFA World Cup

Historical archive — originally published 2018-06-14. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Yesterday, FIFA announced Canada, Mexico and the United States won their collective bid to host the 2026 men's football World Cup during the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, Russia. 2002's Korea-Japan World Cup was the only men's World Cup tournament to be held in more than one country.

The joint bid, titled "United", received 134 votes from 200 votes (67%), Morocco's bid received 65 votes (32.5%) and Iran's Football Federation voted for "none of the bids" (0.5%). Football Associations of Cuba and Slovenia, as well as the Royal Spanish Football Federation abstained from voting.

Unlike this year's tournament featuring 32 teams, 48 teams are to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 80 games are scheduled to be played in the "United" World Cup tournament; sixteen more than this year's World Cup. Instead of the current format involving eight groups consisting of four teams each; the 2026 World Cup is to have sixteen groups of three teams in each, and the top two teams of each group would advance to the knockout phase.

The number of affiliated countries of each continental federation participating for the 2026 World Cup has increased. Sixteen countries from the Union of European Football Associations, nine from the African Football Confederation; eight from Asian Football Confederation; six from the South American Football Confederation; six from the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, as well as six for the Central American and Caribbean Association Football are to feature in the 2026 World Cup.

The next FIFA Congress is scheduled to be held on June 5, 2019, in Paris; before the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup begins in France.

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Text adapted from Football: Canada, Mexico and US wins joint bid to host 2026 FIFA World Cup by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.