FIFA World Cup 2026™ Candidate Host City Workshop for U.S. Bidders to be Held July 7
Virtual Event Will Be Followed by One-on-One Meetings; Media Conference Call Scheduled for July 6
CHICAGO (June 30, 2020) –The FIFA World Cup 2026™ Candidate Host City Workshop will be held virtually on July 7 for all 17 U.S. bid cities as FIFA and U.S. Soccer take the next steps in the venue selection process. In the weeks following, FIFA and U.S. Soccer will hold virtual one-on-one sessions with each candidate host city.
A media conference call will be scheduled for Monday, July 6 with Colin Smith, Chief Tournaments & Events Officer for FIFA, and former U.S. Soccer CEO Dan Flynn, who is overseeing the U.S. city selection process and served as Venue Executive Director for Chicago during the historic 1994 FIFA World Cup. The conference call information will be provided later this week.
The main objectives of the workshop will be to provide an overview of the venue selection process,
outline the focus areas for the assessment of candidate host cities, and address the rules and procedures relating to the venue selection process. The FIFA World Cup 2026™, which will be hosted across Canada, Mexico and the United States, will be the first 48-team FIFA World Cup in history.
“We are looking forward to moving into the planning phase of preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2026,” said Flynn. “We are incredibly honored that the United States has 17 world-class cities and stadiums competing to be part of the first 48-team FIFA World Cup in history. There’s no doubt that over the next year, we will have an incredibly spirited competition between the cities to get selected as a final venue.”
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U.S. CANDIDATE HOST VENUES |
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Atlanta |
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Baltimore |
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Boston |
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Cincinnati |
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Dallas |
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Denver |
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Houston |
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Kansas City |
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Los Angeles |
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Miami |
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Nashville |
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New York/New Jersey |
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Orlando |
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Philadelphia |
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San Francisco Bay Area |
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Seattle |
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Washington, DC |
The final selection process for the World Cup cities and venues began earlier this year when Canada and Mexico held their own workshops for the three candidate cities in each country (Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto and Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey, respectively). This workshop was previously set to take place in person in late March but was postponed due to COVID-19. Canada Soccer Association General Secretary Peter Montopoli is overseeing the process in Canada, and Mauricio Culebro, Chief Operating Officer for the Mexican Football Federation, is doing the same in Mexico.
After this workshop, each of the proposed host cities and stadiums will participate in one-on-one workshops and venue visits. As host cities go hand in hand with their respective stadiums, the process for choosing host cities and stadiums will be conducted in tandem as a single venue selection process.
Canada, Mexico, and the United States were selected to host the FIFA World Cup 2026™ on June 13, 2018 by the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow. The full bid book for the countries’ United Bid can be found here. This marks the first time three nations have been selected to co-host a FIFA World Cup™ and the first time the FIFA World Cup™ will be played in North America in 32 years.