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

North America bid fast track letter.

 

Like I said in the original post, an expedited process, slightly greater percent chance to win and future leverage when CONCACAF has the chance to host the World Cup again.

 

Okay. Doesn't change the fact the original post had nothing to do with MLS.

 

The odds are still probably 90% for the reason that really nobody else could handle this WC. The issue with the US is that they don't believe in 90% odds. Qatar burned them bad. They want this nailed down.

 

Nobody else in the world could handle this WC (those 16 more games...) by the year 2026 alone except for US?

So... what after then?

 

Well, no one no the odds. the 90% is made up by you according to your own belief. The bottom line is that the USSF didn't believe they could win without Mexico and Canada being part of it, which is the same analysis being made by major medias that recognized that it was politics that gave birth to this joint bid.

So I'll go by their analysis and the bottom line of the USSF backtracking from bidding alone than your 90% odds

 

It be easier for the US, but the bottom line is that Canada and Mexico were also capable of hosting alone. That's the USSF president that said that, so did Montagliani of CONCACAF.

For Canada, it would have been a costly endeavor to go solo, yet, they were prepared to do it. Getting those 10 games without sinking massive public funds is a win that the National program can build upon and catapult the Canadian Premier League to the next level, just like it did for MLS. Also, it's the stepping stone for a solo Canadian bid next time it's CONCACAF turn to host if they choose to go that route.

As for Mexico, there was no way FIFA was ever going to give them the tournament for a third time. Basically the US told them that they could take 10 games or end up with 0, which most likely would have went to Canada. A joint Canada-USA bid would have been enough to make the bid bulletproof since Canada would have gotten the votes that the US were far from guarantee from getting.

 

Well, now we have the confirmation that the Canadians are ecstatic with this bid.

 

mix feelings, really

 

Some ideas for logo, poster and mascot

 

Best logo, would be a photograph of a football pitch divided by Trump's wall paid by mexicans.....

 

While shooting Canadian cows. Now Trump hates Canadian cows (NAFTA diary industry)

 

I think there can't be other opinion besides that the US should be a host of the 2026 World Cup. The US market has so much potential and FIFA can't miss out on this one.

 

Regional World Cups that Infantino has been championing since his election.

Joint bids will be the way of the future.

 

That's the obvious question for FIFA, but if you follow the discussion it was clearly implied by another Big Soccer comrade that no country on earth would have been able to host (to handle) 2026 WC (that is, the current WC with 16 extra games that other countries have been handling just fine until now and since 1998) alone other than the United States.

Even as futile as hypothetical discussions are, allow me to disagree.

 

That comrade is an idiot. Unless of course he implied that no country eligible for 2026 can handle the new format. The closest candidate would be Mexico but all their experts have publicly declared that it would not be suitable or ethical for Mexico to even try.

 

I don't know if the stupid meter needs to be pushed to that level. Its only 16 more games. I always felt that 11-12 stadiums that countries needed to host a WC was above and beyond what was really necessary for a 32-team WC. 11-12 stadia is still enough to cover a 48-team WC, imo.

So I don't see any logical reason that the infrastructure requirements to be host will fundamentally change. Thus the likes of England, Germany, France, Brasil, South Africa and whoever else were able to host a 32-team WC should be able to host a 48-team WC as well. Of course there could be bs political reasons invented to prevent them....

 

I am not saying it is impossible.
What I do believe is if the 2020 Euro is successful along with this more than likely slam dunk of a 2026 bid in North America then other Regions are going to want to split the costs and politically have more chances of hosting by joining forces too.

I am not saying that those Countries you are listing can't host on their own.
But I am saying they may come to the conclusion that they don't need to host all those matches on their own.

 

I sometimes wonder if France had the same requirements needed now according to FIFA in 2017 (no to mention for 2026) to host the WC back in 1998?

 

France had less requirements on them for 1998 than FIFA has now for World Cup hosts. France used 10 venues (Qatar will use only 8) but five of those venues failed FIFA's current capacity minimum of 40,000. They had the two 60,000+ venues that FIFA currently requires.

 

And wasn't France a top notch World Cup?

What happened? What changed since 1998 in the reality of football matches and events to this date for the minimal requirements to keep adding up and, on the way, excluding many countries that were or are perfectly able to host a great World Cup because they wouldn't reach those FIFA's demands, or forcing them to joint bids to have a more realistic chance, economic feasibility and political leverage.

The federations and confederations just kept (an keep) letting FIFA upgrading those requirements, forcing countries to pass legislation on their favour (or their sponsors), to make massive investments on infrastructure, stadiums, etc. that weren't required before (and here comes that manichaean argument, that smugness of "if they can't reach FIFA's demands why even bid? It's better for them not to!"), at least on that massive scale.

So what do we end up with? Without disregard to the political nature (and I admit this is perhaps the real and central matter when awarding a country with the chance to host the WC), the number of countries that can host (That is, that can reach every single FIFA's whims no matter how unreasonable they may be) will keep descending until we're left with just a handful, and not many more IF they make joint-bids (of at least 3 countries, but hey, sky's the limit, right?)

 

FIFA got greedy.

 

This.

FIFA is just being silly with stadium requirements. Frankly a 20 to 30,000 stadium looks just as nice on TV. They are also a lot more useful since most leagues tend to have an attendance average near that number.

 

I think the point in have several large stadiums is so lots of fans can go. If you just have small stadiums then tickets are in more demand which means the prices are going to skyrocket.

 

Not with more matches to be played, as they will for 2026