FIFA officials finished their inspection of venue candidates for the 2026 World Cup on Monday. The competition will be held in Mexico, Canada and the United States.
Officials visited 22 venues in Boston, Atlanta, Nashville, Orlando, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Miami, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Monterrey, San Francisco, Seattle, Edmonton, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Now comes the hard part – selecting the venues.
“With host cities being essential stakeholders of the FIFA World Cup, these visits have laid the foundations for the tournament to be delivered successfully across all three countries,” FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani said in a statement.
“What we have seen are truly outstanding bids, in light of which we are more certain than ever that 2026 will be a significant milestone in football history. We would like to reiterate our appreciation to all the candidate host cities and the three host associations for their tremendous efforts and dedication to this process.”
“We are absolutely delighted by the commitment and enthusiasm shown by all the candidate host cities,” FIFA’s Chief Tournaments & Events Officer, Colin Smith said in a statement.
During each stop, the FIFA delegation visited key infrastructure, including stadiums, training sites and Fan Festival venues, and held discussions with a variety of city-related stakeholders on an array of key matters, such as infrastructure, transport, sustainability and legacy.
FIFA said that it expects to finalize the selection process by the first or second quarter of 2022.
