Tomorrow, Wednesday 13 June, the world will find out who will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
In the 68th FIFA congress, the world’s football governing body will hold a vote pitting African side Morocco against a joint bid from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Morocco hopes to become only the second African country to host the biggest football event after South Africa in 2010. Should it beat the joint bid, the country also becomes only the second Arab nation to host the tournament after Qatar in 2022.
The 2026 bid is Morocco’s fifth attempt at hosting the World Cup after unsuccessful attempts in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010, when it lost out to the United States, France, Germany and South Africa respectively.
The country has pledged 14 stadia for the games, six of which will be built from scratch. The stadia will be spread across 12 cities.
Ahead of that vote, here’s what you need to know;
Last minute presentation
Before the vote, representatives of the two bids will be given 15 minutes each to make a final presentation to the 211 FIFA member associations. Afterwards, the associations – minus the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Morocco – will cast their ballots.
Options
The FIFA member associations will have the option of voting for either bid, or select neither.
Any association that feels the two sides do not merit a chance to host the World Cup will pick the ‘neither’ option.
Victory?
The bids will have to garner a 50 per cent or more victory to register an outright win, which amounts to 104 votes. If neither side manages that tally, a second vote will be conducted, but this time with two options only; either the United bid or Morocco.
In the unlikely event that the 68th FIFA Congress decides not to choose either of the candidates, FIFA will then launch a new procedure by inviting all member associations – except the four that are taking part in the current process – to submit a bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Expanded World Cup
The 2026 World Cup will be the first 48-team tournament after FIFA approved the expansion from the current 32-team tournament.
According to the world’s football governing body, the host nation would need at least 12 stadia.
Joint U.S., Canada, Mexico bid
Of the proposed 16 host cities, 10 would be in the U.S., with the other six split evenly between Canada and Mexico.
The final game of the tournament would be played at the 84,953-capacity MetLife Stadium, which is home to NFL sides New York Giants and New York Jets.
The distance between the most northern venue (Edmonton) and the most southern (Mexico City) is almost 3,000 miles.
Morocco bid
The North African country has proposed 14 stadia – six of which it says will be built from scratch while the others are renovated.
This is expected to cost the country over US$ 15 billion.
The final game would be hosted at the 93,000-capacity Grand Stade de Casablanca.
The Moroccan bid may however appeal to participants due to the short distance between the different stadia. Also, analysts expect European associations to back Morocco’s bid due to the closeness of the country, with factors as weather and fans access coming to play.
Time
Proceedings at the 68th FIFA Congress will start at 0500GMT. The vote is however the 13th agenda, so may take place much later in the day.
