A day before the 2018 World Cup kicked off in Russia, FIFA member soccer federations gathered to vote for the host nation of the planet’s biggest football festival.

The result is a consortium of three North American countries, including Canada, the United States and Mexico. This overtook Morocco with a ratio of 134-65 votes to officially become the 2026 World Cup co-hosts. This is the first time in FIFA history. hosting rights for the consortium of 3 countries.

Mexico twice hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986. The United States was the host of the 1994 World Cup. But for Canada, this will be the first time. They failed once in the run to host the 1986 World Cup, the only World Cup Canadian football team to participate in, but they lost all three and were eliminated from the group stage against Soviet rivals. , France and Hungary.

Due to the host countries, FIFA has not officially confirmed that they will automatically be exempted from the qualifying round. However, with the tournament expanded from 32 to 48 teams in eight years, the ability of Canada to participate is not small, whether it is kicked or not.

As planned, Canada and Mexico are scheduled to hold 10 matches each. Besides, the United States will take charge of 60 games, but this is not the final decision. FIFA will select 16 cities to officially host matches in 23 candidate cities of 3 co-host countries. Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal are Canada’s three candidate cities.

Steven Reed, president of the Canadian Football Federation, said the FIFA decision was “an unprecedented honor and privilege”. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is proud: “This is an opportunity to bring the world together and highlight the good things between Canada, Mexico and the United States.”

What price is for Canada for the 2026 World Cup?

According to estimates by the United States Football Association, the 2026 World Cup contribute $ 5 billion to economies. This the ability to create 40,000 jobs in 3 countries. However, right after the initial excitement about the opportunity to return to the World Cup arena, Canadians turned to calculating the cost of a successful World Cup in the next 8 years.