Potential 2026 WC Hosts (Update: Morocco Sole Challenger to CONCACAF Bid)

And that's precisely where the figure of the president of the country who hosts comes very important, as through him, FIFA must get complete government assurance that FIFA's interests will be always honoured, and this not only includes the money it produces, but also to have all that money deposited in FIFA's accounts, free of all sort of local taxes to it.

 

there have been some rumours from africa in recent days that morroco might going to bid for 2026 world cup. if thats the real bid or only the way to pick on usa ... who knows

 

The point is that if the US federation earned 50 million how much do you think CONMEBOL and CONCACAF earned? Quite a lot. This was last minute tournament with very good crowds, expensive tickets and good television viewership. Emphasis on last minute. US marketers can sell like no one else. With a few years of lead up you will see ticket prices more like Barca-Real fake clasico with people paying 13k for a front row seat in the final. Crowds like that mean excellent impact for sponsoring companies.

FIFA sells sponsorships. Don't forget that. Sponsors would love this tournament. By love I mean they will pay millions upon millons.

 

The reason why FIFA puts a medium risk on the assurance of FIFA's interest is because this is not decided by the president. It's decided by Congress. And voting always means a bit of a risk.

 

FIFA hasn't put no one on medium risk yet, as there is no technical report on the bid.

However, US Congress doesn't decide if there is no executive order, sent by the president.

And also remember that this one, is suposed to be multiple host bid, so all countries being host have to give assurances to FIFA.

 

LOL. I'm talking about the 2022 bid of course.

"If the USA is awarded the hosting rights, FIFA's legal risk appears to be medium." The big reason being that the government couldn't provide a guarantee only an intention.

As for congress needing an executive order to decide a law? Oh Lord!

Anyhoo. Neither party is going to block the World Cup. Both business and popular vote are for it. Unbeatable combination.

 

Actually the 2022 bid is past history now, as that WC wasn't awarded to the US, but Qatar instead.

This thread is about potential WC hosts for 2026.

 

Just over a week left for Morocco and anyone else to come forward.

 

It's now the last day.

 

I do not think anyone is ready to burn millions just to tease Americans a bit. You simply can't justify that!

I also do not think Morroco is going to host the World Cup in next 30 years, it is much more likely that is never going to happen, or at least not before the number of participating teams get reduced!

 

well ... let's have some fun!
they obviously do want to poke into eye of america, cost what it cost

http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1053946/morocco-launch-bid-for-2026-world-cup

"Morocco officially launch bid for 2026 World Cup"

 

Whelp, guess we'll have to travel to North Africa in 2026 to watch the World Cup.

 

Oh, I don't know. I think that they might be thinking ahead to 2030. If they run a good race and do their best then in the best case they win and the worst case they gain some respect as a good candidate and prepare for a combined bid with Spain and Portugal. It's pretty much no loss for them since no one expects them to win.

 

The US are the overwhelming favorites. They are also at their highest peak of political power in FIFA and FIFA is at the highest peak of economical need. Still, FIFA has before been pretty unpredictable.

 

Allow me to be a cynic on an online forum!

However, from a realistic perspective, FIFA choosing to allow 48 teams to play in the tournament handicaps single-nation hosts (except for a select few) and smaller countries.

For example, I'm not sure how South Africa would have been able to host--or even Korea or Japan on their own. It's a little unfair to these nations to burden them with 16 more teams.

But, that's kind of what I truly believe the North American bid is the strongest and best fit for the first 48-team World Cup.

 

Some around here dislike this notion.
I for one absolutely love it. This is the freakin' World Cup.
The biggest single sporting event on the Planet. It is the biggest stage for the World's biggest stars, for the World's most popular game.
We should have state of the art stadiums to choose from in countries that are used to hosting big tournaments and in countries that won't have various white elephant stadiums built that will collect dust.
If various Nations want to split the bill I am all for it too.

 

I have completely opposite opinion. As first World Cup formula with 32 teams was the perfect one, everything above is simply product of FIFA greediness, nothing else! As second World Cup should be played in South America (extended to Mexico) and Europe only, everithing else is suboptimal.

World Cup in the USA will create turnover unmatched by any other sport event in the past and it will fill the pockets of FIFA and their partners over the top, and that's why Morocco has zero chance. The fact that USA has hardly any stadium (I can think of one, maybe two) that fullfills modern FIFA criterias and that they have no intention to adjust them either suddenly doesn't interest anyone, just money money money dropping down from all sides, sponsors, all sorts of media and fans that are going to fill all those 70+K stadiums and spend most of their money on all sorts of merchandise

 

I am not going to argue about your first paragraph because there is another thread for that.

The second paragraph intrigues me a bit. Please elaborate as to what you mean by hardly any stadium that fulfills modern FIFA criteria.

 

And this is a bad thing why?
FIFA will be happy, the Media will be happy, the Sponsors will be happy, many fans will be happy, especially fans in the USA (Oh the horror,!!!!!! Fans within a host Nation being happy!.)


But it is not just about the money aspect and not just about financial beneficiaries that will be happy. National Teams and players and coaches will be happy.
The United States has facilities and accommodations for teams that are purely World Class.
Jose Mourinho was quoted as saying that USA facilities and accommodations are perfect.

There is also an eclectic mix of thousands and thousands of fans from all over the world here. Representations from every single continent and various languages spoken all over the place.
A plethora of diversity and there will be multiple "Home teams" here.

So let's not make it seem like the USA would only be a cash cow with no other positives.

 

I'm confused why you think that the stadiums in the U.S. are not up to FIFA standards or that they cannot conform to FIFA standards quickly. To be honest, it's the stadiums in Mexico and Canada (mostly Canada) that will have problems conforming to the standards.

Which criteria do these horrible U.S. stadiums not fit?

 

Huh? I'm extremely interested to know what you mean by that, seeing as it's generally argued that the US has far and away the best stadium situation in the world.

Any city with an NFL, MLB, or Power 5 College Football team likely has a stadium that could respectably host a World Cup game given time.

 

I agree that most NFL and even major college football stadiums can host but not MLB. I think there are very few, if any, MLB stadiums than can fit a full size World Cup pitch. Look at NYCFC's non-WC regulation, ultra thin pitch at Yankee Stadium. When they've played in our Petco Park, the field is so short it's almost square and the keepers can almost reach each other with their goal kicks. Plus, the seating is all screwed up since the new baseball stadiums are built to focus the fans towards home plate. I doubt FIFA would accept any MLB stadium and anyway why would we ever choose one.

However, even if you don't use any MLB stadiums that still leaves us with 50+ (probably more) stadiums that would work. I think some of the MLS stadiums would qualify by FIFA standards as group stage venues too, but to sell more tickets and make more money I'm sure they'll just choose larger stadiums.

 

Morocco bid seems so far fetched as Qatar looked on 2010 and still...
What Morocco brings is a friendly timezone for UEFA and also a lot less of Travel for their teams.
Add support from the arab world and maybe some help from Quatar. I remember that some stadia from WC2022 could be dismantled and send to another place. Recycled venues could be a good argument.
Also this time, the vote is open to all associations in FIFA. Maybe UEFA and CAF could rock the vote.
Just wondering....

 

noone said us stadiums are horrible, please do not turn my words. these are great stadiums, build mainly for american football, and most of them can host football games as well, so usa can and it will host the world cup 2026. on the top of that it has hundred stadiums over 50k so turnover will be huge, much higher than ever before.

but there is also the fact most of you are ignoring, during last, let's say four, world cups FIFA set the stadium standards so high that that nearly none of these stadiums can match, us world cup will be a huge step down measured by these standards. just take a look how all these stadiums (google image search is a mighty tool) look like and compare them to the venues of the recent world cups and you will understand it promptly. especialy russia 2018, no world cup has seen such a great collection of venues like the forthcoming one, and level in brazil was already set very high.
us stadiums have several flaws that prevent them to match this level. pitch width is one of the bigger flaws, corners are too close to the wall, and on most venues this significantly increases the number of obstructed view seats, furthermore, nearly all college stadiums have bleachers, installing single seats there plus VIP and media zones would significantly reduce their capacity. FIFA world cup stadiums all have single seats that match certain standards, as known from the NFL, so FIFA will mainly stick to NFL stadiums, all NFL stadiums but few (lambeau field, oakland coliseum, plus some other single stands) are single seaters, but only one of those open air stadiums (football is open air sport) has roof to cover the seats. yes football fans do not like to get wet, and FIFA spoiled us in last 20 years or so by giving us protection over our heads. american football fans might like that, but soon or a later they will also fugure out they have been mishandeld for ages. when you go to the world cup you do not have to care about geting wet or your skin being burned, you go there and have fun, and if you get the chance to support your team even getter! all of that will be missed in 2026. the only single seater stadium in the usa that acommodates pitch wide enough and has the protection roof is the one in miami!
and do not come now with all those domes, football simply does not belong into the domes.
and the worst thing comes in the end: FIFA will have to stage the world cup final in one of those domes, or at least in semi-dome in inglewood, FIFA VIPs do not watch football in e rain, they never did ... ugly, isn't it?!!!

so thats why usa world cup will be a step down for the fan experience, but no worries, its gonna be big fun as every single world cup is. even qatar will be fun, I am sure about that, but there is bad taste about this one, mainly because FIFA will take a step down in comodity in order to earn more billions than ever before...

about the rest of 2026 bid, those three or four mexico stadiums will perfectly fit, about canada I do not know, that will probably be another compromise

long post, but most people do not know it and take many things for granted

 

just to be straight, I am a huge football and world cup fan, I went to six world cups in the past and if I were younger I would go to many more, especially to the one in the usa (I still might go, who knows) but I think that world cup does not belong into the countries where football is not the sport number one

thats why qatar world cup makes me really really sad, and that's why I would stage the world cup only in south america, europe or mexico. it also does not belong in the country where they call it soccer! but of course that is my personal opinion only.