North American 2026 World Cup bid has 23 candidate cities including 3 in Canada
TORONTO — The bid group hoping to bring the 2026 World Cup to North America has unveiled its 23 candidate cities but not without a crack to its much-ballyhooed unity theme.
The list of potential host cities includes Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto. But Vancouver joined Chicago and Minneapolis in dropping out at the last minute over concerns about FIFA’s demands.
The world governing body of soccer will select up to 16 host cities from the list of 23 if the so-called unified bid of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. gets the nod over Morocco at the FIFA Congress in June.
Should North America win the bid, Peter Montopoli, Canada bid director and general secretary of the Canadian Soccer Association, said FIFA is likely to announce the host cities in 2020.