MOSCOW – The 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada after FIFA’s congress voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to back the tri-nation joint bid for the tournament and leave Morocco to miss out for the fifth time.
The North American bid collected 134 votes to the 65 for Morocco. One congress member voted for “neither bid.”
The 2026 tournament will be the first expanded tournament featuring 48 teams, up from the current 32-team tournament, which begins in Russia on Thursday.
“Football is the only victor. We are all united in football,” U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro said.
“Thank you so, so much for this incredible honour. Thank you for entrusting us with this privilege.”
Of the 211 Fifa member nations, 200 cast a vote at the 68th Fifa Congress in Moscow on Wednesday, with the winning bid needing a majority of 104.
Canada, Mexico, Morocco and the US were exempt, while Ghana was absent after the country’s government said it had disbanded its football association amid allegations of “widespread” corruption.
Three U.S. territories – Guam, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico – were among the other member nations to not vote.
Both Mexico (1970 and 1986) and the United States (1994) have previously hosted World Cups.
Canada staged the Women’s World Cup in 2015.
The Fifa heirarchy, including the president, Gianni Infantino, preferred the North American bid which has promised to generate around an $11bn (£8.24bn) profit for Fifa compared to the projected $5.7bn (£4.48bn) a Morocco World Cup would raise.
Of the 80 games, 10 matches will be held in Canada, 10 in Mexico and 60 in the U.S. with the final played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home to the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets.
The 2022 tournament will be hosted by Qatar while the 2018 edition kicks off in Moscow on Thursday when Russia play Saudi Arabia.
