After Qatar, North America.

FIFA revealed Thursday in New York the 16 cities that will host matches of the 2026 World Cup organized for the first time in three countries, United States, Mexico and Canada, maintaining the suspense for the final.

As expected, the United States takes the lion's share, with eleven cities (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, New York), while Mexico in will have three (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey) and Canada two (Toronto and Vancouver).

The 16 host cities of the @FIFAcom World Cup 2026:


- 11 in the US: Seattle, SF/Bay, LA, Dallas, Houston, Kansas city, Atlanta, Philly, NY/NJ, Boston, Miami


- 3 in Mexico: Mexico City City, Monterrey, Guadalajara


- 2 in Canada: Vancouver, Toronto pic.twitter.com/swmhtaYwnr

— Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) June 16, 2022


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Unsurprisingly, the Azteca stadium in Mexico City is on the list and becomes the first to host three World Cups, after those of 1970 and 1986 when it was the scene of the finals won by Brazil and then Argentina.

Six cities were rejected, after a "very difficult" choice, assured New York the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino: Cincinnati, Denver, Nashville, Orlando, and a Washington DC candidacy /Baltimore for the United States, as well as Edmonton in Canada.

Developed distances

As for the final, "we still have to discuss it, have an analysis and we will make a decision when the time comes," he added, at Rockefeller Center, where the announcement took place.

Logically, Los Angeles, with the brand new SoFi stadium, and New Jersey, with the MetLife, hold the rope.

Most stadiums will have capacities of around 60,000 seats.

The 2026 World Cup will inaugurate a new format with 48 teams and 80 matches, compared to 32 teams and 64 matches for the 2022 World Cup this fall in Qatar.

The FIFA boss promised a reflection on the distances traveled, while some cities are more than 4,000 km away.

"In a region as large as North America, we have to be concerned about that, to ensure that teams play in clusters, where fans don't have to walk crazy distances, just like the teams," said Gianni Infantino.

48 teams

But he also promised that each meeting could be compared to "a Super Bowl", the final of the American football championship, in terms of audiences and spectators, and gave himself the ambitious objective of making the round ball the first sports in North America.

FIFA had tried in vain to increase to 48 teams from 2022 in Qatar, where the competition will take place for the first time in the fall, and in air-conditioned stadiums to avoid excessive heat, despite criticism from environmental organizations.

The United States first staged the World Cup in 1994, an event that helped boost football in a country where basketball, baseball and American football are kings.

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