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FIFA won't add host cities for expanded 2026 World Cup
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The FIFA World Cup championship trophy on display in New York City, June 16, 2022. /CFP
The FIFA World Cup championship trophy on display in New York City, June 16, 2022. /CFP

The FIFA World Cup championship trophy on display in New York City, June 16, 2022. /CFP

FIFA will not add more host cities for the 2026 World Cup, which expands from 32 teams, 80 games to 48 teams, 104 games, the global football governing body's vice president and the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) President Victor Montagliani said on Thursday.

The United States, Canada and Mexico won the joint bid for the 2026 World Cup in 2018. The games will take place in 16 venues in 16 cities of the three countries. The original plan was for both Canada and Mexico to host 10 games each. Montagliani wants the two countries to hold more than those competitions.

"I would think just by natural reasoning you're going to get more games in Canada, more games in Mexico," Montagliani said. "How many? We don't know. That's all depending on the match schedule." The FIFA vice president also expects the two countries to host some knockout games, if the schedule allows it to happen. He also revealed that Canada will play all of their three group games at home.

The Copa America championship trophy on display at the Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia, Brazil, June 13, 2021. /CFP
The Copa America championship trophy on display at the Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia, Brazil, June 13, 2021. /CFP

The Copa America championship trophy on display at the Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia, Brazil, June 13, 2021. /CFP

According to Montagliani, CONCACAF and the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) want to announce in autumn the host cities for the 2024 Copa America in the U.S. There will be a total of 16 teams participating in the tournament, 10 from CONMEBOL and six from CONCACAF. CONCACAF teams will compete to advance out of the 2023-2024 Nations League quarterfinals in November to qualify for Copa America.

Montagliani said the selection of host cities for Copa America will be similar to the process of the CONCACAF Golden Cup. Though they haven't narrowed a specific date, they want to decide as soon as possible after the Golden Cup this summer.

"We do this every two years, there's a process in terms of not only the stadiums themselves, but also the routing of games is very important," Montagliani said. "That has to be taken into consideration. The size of the venues, how many games, what kind of teams are playing, are we going to use all NFL stadiums or are we going to do a mixture like we do for Gold Cup? So that all has to be laid out first, from a foundation, then we get into that process with the venues themselves."

"We've already had a ton of interest, stadiums are obviously interested, a lot of them are stadiums that we've used in a Gold Cup, so they're familiar with us, which gives CONMEBOL a high comfort level, obviously with us managing this process," he added.

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