If the United States does officially submit a bid for hosting rights to the 2026 World Cup, it might very well have to do battle with its most bitter rival.
The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) is putting the finishing touches on a bid to host that year’s World Cup, according to a report from Mexico outlet Record. All the stadiums that would be used in the tournament are almost finalized, and FMF president Decio de Maria is convinced that Mexico has everything in place to organize another World Cup.
“The infrastructure in Mexican soccer has grown, it has improved,” de Maria told ESPN. “I think the World Cups of today don’t require as many stadiums as the ones used in Brazil (in 2014). You can have a contest (for hosting sites) with a few less stadiums, and I think that all Mexicans should dream of us having a World Cup.”
Mexico has twice previously hosted the World Cup. The CONCACAF nation first held the 1970 tournament, which was won by Brazil, and then the 1986 competition that Diego Maradona and Argentina claimed.
U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati stated last month that the United States could hold the 2026 World Cup with relative ease. The United States, which hosted the 1994 World Cup, controversially lost out to Qatar for the rights to the 2022 edition.
There has been speculation about Mexico and the United States joining forces to submit a joint bid, but that does not currently appear to be on the table.
What do you think of Mexico being close to finalizing a bid for the hosting rights to the 2026 World Cup? Would you still like the United States’ chances? Should the U.S. and Mexico submit a joint bid?
Share your thoughts below.
… That would make it 3 Finals in the modern era (’70, 86, and now 2026) I can’t see it happening.
The 2026 WC is the US’s for the asking. Everybody knows it. Gulati made a good choice when he declared the US would not entertain bidding for another WC unless the bidding process was changed, and so it appears that FIFA got the message. Mexico has held two WC already and with it’s Cartel and corruption scandals would not be appealing to many. The 94 WC still, to this date, was the most profitable WC in FIFA history. You could double that now easily.
The only problem is; who could FIFA find, at the last minute, to host the 2022 WC when it’s pulled from Qatar? Only the US has the infrastructure and the marketing savvy to do so, but if its awarded the 2026 WC, is that still an option?
Is pretty simple… do you want diarrhea or Disney World?
I don’t see the difference
Mexico will be in debt due to the great Trump wall. They will only host food rations.
I really don’t care at this point where they hold the World Cup. While Russia will be fairly successful financially with good fan support….I still find it hard to believe that the Qatar WC will be anything but a disaster financially and poorly supported by fans. FIFA will need a huge turnout after Qatar in order to save face. To that end I think they’ll go somewhere that they know will be well received and that has a decided Western…I’m thinking it’ll be Australia/New Zealand but Mexico wouldn’t be a bad 2nd choice.
One thing I don’t expect to happen is for the USA to be involved at all. There are to many hurt feelings out there for the role that the US Government/Justice department has had in exposing the corruption at FIFA and CONCACAF leadership.
New Zealand is hard to get to, and Australia is in the same federation as Qatar so I don’t know if either of those are the best choice. I’m not sure New Zealand would have the stadiums or the money to build them their Prime Minister didn’t sound real excited when the idea was floated. If not a combination of North American countries, I think England would be the front runner.
2026 is going to be a weird one. i mean, of course the voting is still going to be corrupt and $$$ will change hands, but with all the external (i’m assuming) and internal (lol) scrutiny, it’s going to be interesting to see how bid committees attempt to pull it off.
Are they going to be able to afford it, I mean, right after they finish paying for the border wall?
Between the “Wall” and having to take care of the large number of “their citizens” that get shipped back to them Mexico will be hard pressed to find the money to fix up their stadiums. There have already been a couple Mexican political delegations that have visited Arizona to complain about its use of E-Verify in hiring practices in the state. Their claim being that it’s causing hardship on their communities in Mexico because there is fewer dollars being sent from the US and a number of their citizens are returning to Mexico because they cannot find work in AZ, and this is a drain on their resources.
Man I will be super old in 2026. I will be 35 lol!
35… man, the good ol days…
This is a ploy to get a co-hosting deal with the USA. Not a chance they beat out the USA for a bid so they want to get the co-hosting deal instead of Canada. Silly to co-host considering we can host 4 World Cups at the same time and not even break a sweat.
LOL. If we lost to Qatar what makes you think we can’t lose to Mexico?
Yeah I’m sure we’ll get all the votes from those federation bosses we are trying to arrest.
Uh because FIFA cant afford another bribery scandal and while Mexico has an incredible soccer infrastructure, it doesnt present the same profitability as the US
Common misconception. FIFA makes its money regardless of where the World Cup is held. Upfront, cash and tax free.
Finishing touches = Bribing officials
If the US is not going to get it… Then I hope Mexico does… I can easliy see myself taking 3 weeks off from work and traveling around to the matches.. They of course need to make sure they have the cartels in line to have ceasefires during the tournament.
You would also think that those three weeks would be cheaper in comparison. Think being the key word, since hosting a WC pretty much throws competitive pricing out the window.
“Cartels in line”??? More like cartels adequately paid off.
Muslims Welcome.
They won’t get it if they don’t end their homophobic chants by fans.
keep in ming that outside the US, Canada, Western Europe and Australia… nobody else in the world cares much for LGBT rights… Just a fact of the world…
I’m assuming Joe is joking since Russia is hosting the World Cup and so is Qatar and both do a lot more than yell slurs.