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Joint CONCACAF World Cup bid set to be announced on Monday

CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani’s recent comments regarding a three-nation bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup appears set to become reality.

On Monday afternoon, Montagliani is set to be joined by U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati and Mexican Football Federation President Decio de Maria in New York City for what is being billed as a “historic announcement”. The trio of CONCACAF leaders are expected to unveil a joint bid for the 2026 World Cup, signaling CONCACAF’s intent to join together for the expanded tournament.

Montagliani, who also serves as president of the Canadian Soccer Association, revealed that the three nations were expected to finalize a bid earlier this week. The CONCACAF president said that a joint bid would be “a fit” for the expanded 48- team format while adding he expected the process to be finalized “sometime this year”.

A joint bid with USA, Mexico and Canada would have to be considered the favorite to host the 2026 World Cup, though history has shown us nothing can be taken for granted when it comes to World Cup bids.

Hosting bids are set to be submitted and evaluated starting in June, with the process running until Dec. 2018. Evaluations of countries’ suitablity will be done from Jan. 2019 to Feb. 2020 with a final decision on the host set for Dec. 2020.

Comments

  1. goddam you are an opinionated son of a gun, old school. you sound like a child saying wa wa daddy please give me the shiny red bicycle because it’s red and it’s shiny and I really really want it.

    thank you rob for countering his typical old school opinion bombing with a measure of sanity. yes, mexico is quite able to host, doesn’t need anyone’s help. no usa did not invent the game, has no special claim on hosting. and if usa mexico and Canada agree to do something how does that show concacaf unity? last time i checked there are more than three countries in concacaf.

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  2. FIFA already announced that CONCACAF will get 6 automatic berths and 2 playoff places for 2026. If all three go in automatically there would still be 3 automatics and 2 playoff spots to play for

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  3. The big question remains where/what country the Final would be played. If it’s anywhere other than the United States this joke becomes even more absurd.

    The US has the resources, city-wide infrastructure and stadiums to do this own their own. Canada and Mexico (who will be hosting for their 5th time) should be grateful.

    …though history has shown us nothing can be taken for granted when it comes to World Cup bids.

    There’s a term for that: corruption.

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    • Dang. The ignorance is in full rage on this one
      Mexico and Canada can also host it by themselves. Existing infrastructure has never been a FIFA requirement and since we just dropped 70mill worth of bombs in an empty airfield in Syria I don’t think I’ve have the right to tell any country how to spend their money.
      Considering the anti-anything-non-white-Christian orange blob that currently occupies the White House, having Canada and Mexico in the ticket it’s probably the only way our name gets even mentioned this cycle.
      FIFA will probably want the final to be played in place with real grass, lots of seats and a football pedigree. The Azteca is being remodeled and expanded.
      Believe it or not we didn’t invent the World Cup, it started way before 1994.
      Mexico has hosted five times? I’m sure they’ll be surprised to hear that!!!!

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      • Ummm dude? I’m a life long liberal but what are you smoking?? America is in a proxy war with Russia, Syria is the battleground, we should have been dropping bombs on Assad regime since 2011. I hate a Trump, but this is the first smart American thing that he’s done. You sound like a pretty intelligent person but operating with a limited purview. Take a step back and think about what is actually going on in the geo-political game of the acquisition of power and resources and check your role with respect to 70million worth of bombs. We are a country that’s in position to hold a World Cup on 2 second’s notice partially because of our ability and willingness to drop bombs. Thinking otherwise just shows a woefully lacking understanding of modern and recent history. Read more history books not internet blog posts!! You will find the answers you seek there!

      • I must admit, I admire you for being willing to admit the bombings were not about little kids getting gassed but my post had nothing to do with my geopolitical views.
        What I meant to say is that if we have the right to bomb anybody in the world to protect our “freedoms” and “interests” then any other country has the right to spend billions building stadia for the wold cup.
        As far as being ready to host it in a couple of seconds notice: totally irrelevant. The World Cup in question is in 2026, not tomorrow.

    • @Old The infrastructure of the US compared to MEX/CAN is not the issue here. No need to get into politics other than this (covered by Grant Wahl on Twitter and I’m sure others):

      The US can’t bid by itself because FIFA needs assurance that countries likely to participate in the 2026 world cup will be able to enter the host country(ies). The most likely country that comes to mind would be Iran, but potentially there would be others. This is the colalteral damage for the USSF that comes from Trump’s term extending beyond the May 2020 date in which FIFA will make a final decision on the host.

      Due to these circumstances, it is actually the US who should be grateful to Mexico and Canada for facilitating a US bid that would be rejected (fairly of unfairly is another conversation) otherwise.

      I would guess the US would get the Final (New York or LA), a Semi and two Quarters (Chicago/Dallas/Houston/Miami); Mexico would get a Semi and a Quarter (both at Azteca); and Canada would get a Quarter final (whichever CFL stadium is biggest).

      @Rob Canada could host by themselves? I think that’s a stretch under the old 32 team format, forget 48 teams. Canada doesn’t strike me as the type of country that would support building billion dollar stadiums that would go unused like Brazil and Qatar. But yes, Mexico could have bid independently.

      @Jon The US DOJ just tried to take down FIFA. Given the reports just this last week that Sepp Blatter still has influence in FIFA (did you really expect things to change at FIFA?) If money wasn’t a factor, I would think FIFA would do just about anything to avoid having the US host if possible. Forcing a joint bid is a small piece of revenge and now the US/MEX/CAN bid has become a reality due to Trump. Doesn’t matter that Russia and Qatar received bids under objectionable circumstances. For FIFA this is a “sucks to your assmar” situation

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