Why is the FIFA World Cup 2026 being held in three countries?

Published 10 June 2026 · sports

The 2026 World Cup is the first to be held in three different host nations – but why? Al Jazeera explains. If you’re a football

The 2026 World Cup is the first to be held in three different host nations – but why? Al Jazeera explains. If you’re a football fan, the craze around the FIFA World Cup 2026 has probably taken over your life. From next week, the biggest World Cup in history will unfold across the United States, Canada and Mexico. But why is the tournament being held in three countries? Al Jazeera breaks it down. ‘United As One’ Initially, the US, Canada and Mexico announced plans to field individual bids for the 2026 World Cup hosting rights. But later they opted to join hands, presenting themselves with the slogan “United As One”. In 2017, the football associations of the North American trio officially announced their alliance, calling it the “United Bid”. A year later, at FIFA’s 68th Congress in Moscow, Russia, FIFA’s member associations cast votes, and ultimately the United Bid won 67 percent of the 200 votes. With that, history was made, as FIFA announced a World Cup would be held in three countries for the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history. Expanded format needs more venues, huge infrastructure FIFA’s decision to expand the participation pool from 32 to 48 teams, and subsequently add an extra knockout round, meant the 2026 tournament is set to feature a whopping 104 matches, the most in the World Cup’s history and 40 more than the total at the 2022 edition in Qatar.

It is practically impossible for a single nation to host that many games, opening the door to the idea of more countries coming together. What also helped the US, Canada and Mexico’s joint bid was that each of the stadiums included in their bid proposal was already built, did not require major construction work and boasted an average capacity of more than 68,000. All candidate host cities were also found to have existing transportation, accommodation, medical, technology, and other infrastructure that met or exceeded the requirements outlined by FIFA. Fast forward to today, the 2026 World Cup will be played across 16 stadiums in 16 cities, many of which host matches in the Football League (NFL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and Liga MX, the top-flight Mexican football league. Although the World Cup hosting rights are being shared by three countries, the US is hosting 78 games – three times more than Canada (13) and Mexico (13) combined. The majority of the high-stakes games, including the quarterfinals, semifinals and final, will be played in the US. World Cup 2026: the most lucrative sports event An analysis by the World Trade Organization has estimated that the 2026 World Cup will produce $80.1bn in gross output across three countries, including $30.5bn in the US alone.