The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup is a quadrennial football (soccer) tournament of men’s national teams that determines the sport’s world champion. FIFA organizes the event, and it is fair to say that it is likely the most popular sporting event in the world. Every tournament draws in billions of TV viewers. The women’s national football teams battle it out for the Women’s World Cup.
Around the globe, countries compete vigorously, many of which advance, to host the lucrative event. Unfortunately, there are accusations of bribery connected to the awarding of hosting rights that have long shadowed the tournament. “In fact, the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal implicated more than two dozen FIFA officials and their associates in a 24-year self-enrichment scheme that reached the highest levels of FIFA management,” according to Britannica.
World Cup This Year
This year the FIFA World Cup will be held in three countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Originally, these three countries were going to battle it out to gain the right to host the football tournament; however, they ended up scrapping that idea and opted to join hands. They presented themselves with the slogan “United As One.”
History was made in 2017 when the football associations of the North American trio officially announced their alliance, calling it the “United Bid.” It was the following year, “at FIFA’s 68th Congress in Moscow, Russia, FIFA’s member associations cast votes, and ultimately the United Bid won 67 percent of the 200 votes,” according to MSN.
Moreover, what also helped the three countries with their bid was that they already had stadiums to host the games, eliminating the stress of figuring out where to hold the tournaments. Furthermore, each of the host cities was found to have existing medical, technology, transportation, accommodation, and other infrastructure that either met or exceeded the outlined requirements set by FIFA.
World Cup Games
The World Cup will play 78 games in the United States, 13 games in Mexico, and 13 games in Canada. Meaning the majority of the high-stakes games will be played in the US. This includes the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.
To reduce the travelling challenges across the three countries, FIFA has divided the venues into three regional clusters. There is the Western region, which includes Vancouver, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles.
Then there is the Central region, which includes Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, Houston, Dallas, and Kansas City. Lastly, there’s the Eastern region, which includes Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York/New Jersey.
Sources:
MSN: Why is the FIFA World Cup 2026 being held in three countries? by Manasi Pathak
Britannica: FIFA World Cup
Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay
