FIFA president Gianni Infantino warned Canada, Mexico and the United States to prepare for a “football invasion” on Thursday as the host cities for the 2026 World Cup were revealed. The first-ever World Cup jointly hosted by three different countries will also see a record number of teams, which will increase by 16 from 32 to 48 as the tournament returns to North America for the first time since the 1994 finals.
The 16 locations listed on Thursday are 11 in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada.
All U.S. games are held in venues that host NFL teams, such as the $5 billion SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and the New York Giants’ 82,000-seat MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, which has been tipped to host the final.
In total, 60 of the 80 matches in the tournament – including all knockout matches from the quarter-finals onwards – will take place at US venues.
Mexico City’s iconic Azteca Stadium — hosting the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals — was featured in three Mexican venues, along with the cities of Monterrey and Guadalajara.
Vancouver and Toronto will host the Canadian matches in the tournament.
Infantino, meanwhile, said 2026 would in every way eclipse the 1994 finals in the United States — which holds the record for the highest total attendance.
“2026 will be much, much bigger,” Infantino said. “I think this part of the world doesn’t realize what will happen in 2026.
“These three countries will be turned upside down and then turned around again. The world will invade Canada, Mexico and the United States.
“They will be attacked by a great wave of joy and happiness.”
Infantino said he hoped the World Cup would further stimulate the development of football in the region.
“In this part of the world you are leading in many areas. But in the number one sport in the world, football or soccer, you are not yet,” he said. “The goal should be to lead the world in the world’s number one sport.”
No decision had yet been made on the locations where marquees, such as the World Cup final and the opening match, would be held.
“We still have to discuss that, we still have to analyze that,” Infantino said. “We will make a decision in due course.”
However, Infantino revealed that, given the vast geographic spread of hosting the tournament across North America, FIFA was looking for teams in regional “clusters” to minimize travel.
“When you’re dealing with a region as big as North America, we have to care about the fans and make sure that teams play in clusters, that fans and teams don’t have to travel crazy distances,” Infantino said.
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The list of locations in the US stretches from coast to coast, with several cities hosting matches in the 1994 World Cup final. However, no actual stadium locations from the 1994 tournament will be repeated in 2026.
Other venues include Dallas Cowboys’ massive AT&T Stadium in Arlington and Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium. Seven of the 11 venues named Thursday have hosted the Super Bowl.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium – the loudest stadium in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records – also made the cut.
NFL venues in Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Boston and Philadelphia were also on the list.
However, there was no place for Washington DC on the list of locations. It means that the 2026 tournament will be the first World Cup since the 1974 finals in what was then West Germany without the capital of a host country.
Colin Smith, FIFA’s head of leagues and events, acknowledged Washington’s absence following an “incredibly competitive” bidding process.
“This was a very, very difficult choice,” Smith said. “It’s hard to imagine a World Cup coming to the US and the capital without playing a major role.”
Smith, meanwhile, said some of the NFL venues would require minor adjustments to widen “bottlenecks” but said stadium capacity would not be affected.
“The number of fans who will be able to experience this World Cup will probably be double what we had before,” he said.
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“94 World Championship holds the record for attendance — and that will be blown out of the water.”
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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