Canadian government pledges support for 2026 World Cup bid

///Canadian government pledges support for 2026 World Cup bid

Canadian government pledges support for 2026 World Cup bid

The Canadian government has lent its support to United 2026,  Canada, U.S.A. and Mexico’s joint bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

It has said it will give C$5 million (US$3.9 million) to the bid if it is successful in order to help with planning and budgeting the event itself. As with the hosting of the Women’s World Cup in Canada in 2015, the government will help with essential security and border services.

The only other bidder for the tournament is Morocco, who are the underdogs but would represent a new market for the World Cup in North Africa, with South Africa hosting the African continent’s only previous World Cup in 2010.

If the United 2026 bid is successful, it will be the first time that Canada has held the men’s competition.

The president of Canada Soccer, Steven Reed, said in a statement: “Canada has raised the bar for women’s and youth Fifa competitions including the most recent record-setting Fifa Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 and as the only G7 country to have not hosted the men’s competition, we are more than ready to welcome the world along with our neighbours in Mexico and the United States.”

There are 32 potential Host Cities spread between the three countries and at least 12 cities will be selected to host matches during the event. The Canadian candidate cities are Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Edmonton. The full list of the potential host cities can be found here.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the first time the tournament has an expanded 48-team format. The only other candidate for hosting the event is Morocco, and the deadline to submit a bid is March 16.

NMC members will be following the selection process closely, ahead of the formal announcement of the winning candidate that will be made in Moscow on June 13, before the 2018 World Cup.

2018-03-20T16:27:07+00:00

About the Author:

Nathan Stewart takes responsibility for the NMC's internal and external communication including the website, newsletters and other Member information. Contact him on nathan@newsmediacoalition.org