FIFA President Gianni Infantino urged Canada, Mexico and the United States to prepare for a football “invasion” following the announcement on Thursday of the 16 host cities of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The first World Cup to be held in three different countries will also feature a record number of teams, as that number increased from 32 to 48 teams with the return of football to North America for the first time since the 1994 final.
Of the 16 stadiums identified Thursday, 11 are in the US, three in Mexico and two in Canada.
All U.S. games will be played at American Football Club (NFL) stadiums, finals nominees will be played at one of Los Angeles’ five billion Sophie stadiums or the New York Giants’ Metlife Stadium, which seats 82,000 in the East -Rutherford, New Jersey.
Sixty of the 80 final matches, including all play-offs from the quarter-finals onwards, will be played at stadiums in the United States of America.
The famous Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, which hosted the final matches of the 1970 and 1986 World Cups, was part of three Mexican stadiums, along with the cities of Monterrey and Guadalajara.
Canadian matches of the tournament will be hosted by Vancouver and Toronto.
Meanwhile, Infantino has indicated that the 2026 World Cup will surpass the 1994 final in the United States, which holds the attendance record.
“The (World Cup) 2026 will be much bigger,” said the Swiss-Italian. “I think this part of the world doesn’t know what’s going to happen in 2026. These three countries will turn upside down and then turn over again. The world will invaded by Canada, Mexico and the United States, a great wave of Joy and happiness will sweep over them.”
Infantino expressed his hope that the World Cup will become an additional impetus for the development of football in the region.
And he added: “In this part of the world, you are leading in many areas. But in the world’s number one sport, football, I’m not a leader yet.”
“The goal should be to lead the world in the number one sport in the world,” he added.
A decision has not yet been made on the stadiums that will host such important matches as the World Cup final and the opening match.
“We have yet to discuss it, we have yet to analyze it,” Infantino said. “We will make a decision in due time.”
But Infantino said that given the vast geographic footprint of the finals in North America, with some cities as much as 4,000 kilometers apart, FIFA was looking to form teams into regional “groups” to reduce travel.
“When we’re dealing with a region as large as North America, we need to take care of the fans and make sure teams play in groups so fans and teams don’t have to travel crazy distances,” the FIFA president said. .
Superbowl Legacy. The list of American stadiums stretches from coast to coast and includes many of the cities that hosted matches in the 1994 World Cup.
However, none of the stadiums that hosted the 1994 matches will be included in the list of stadiums for the 2026 World Cup.
Other locations include the massive AT&T Dallas Cowboys Arena in Arlington, Texas and the Hard Rock Arena Miami Dolphins in Florida. It is worth noting that seven of the 11 stadiums named on Thursday have previously hosted the American Football Super Bowl final.
Arrowhead Stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs, the noisiest stadium in the world according to Guinness World Records, was among the venues chosen.
NFL stadiums in Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Boston and Philadelphia also made the list.
However, Washington, D.C. was not on the list. This means that the 2026 final will be the first World Cup final since 1974, and at the time it was held in West Germany, not counting the host nation’s capital.
Colin Smith, FIFA’s chief competition and events officer, acknowledged Washington’s absence after an “incredibly competitive” nomination process.
“It was a very difficult choice,” Smith said. “It’s hard to imagine the World Cup being held in the United States and the capital not playing an important role.”
Meanwhile, Smith noted that some NFL stadiums would require minor modifications to expand “pain points”, but said the stadium’s capacity would not be affected.
“The number of fans who will be able to see this World Cup will probably be twice as large as it was before,” he said. “The 1994 World Cup is the record-breaking attendance, but this will not happen again.”
