North America Wins Bid To Host 2026 Tournament

The United States may not be making an appearance in the 2018 World Cup, but they may have just earned an automatic bid in a future tournament. On Wednesday, the U.S.A, Canada, and Mexico won hosting rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Delegates from each FIFA member association came together in Moscow to cast a 134 to 65 vote in favor of the “United Bid”, beating out Morocco as their challengers.

“Thank you for the incredible privilege,” Carlos Cordeiro, the president of U.S. Soccer. “Football today is the only victor.”

The North American co-hosts will set a new precedent for the World Cup, with the games being hosted by three countries for the first time in tournament history. The United States will host 60 of the 80 games, while Canada and Mexico will have ten each.

Though the “United Bid” promised record crowds, revenues, and profits for FIFA, the unprecedented nature of the event does leave certain questions unanswered.

For one, the World Cup host country traditionally receives an automatic berth in the tournament. Though each nation in the collective hopes to host an opener in their respective country, FIFA has not given a definitive answer on if all three hosts will have to go through traditional qualification.

The 2026 World Cup will also see the competition expand from including 32 teams to 48 teams, and there will be an additional 28 games played. Sixteen different stadiums will be used across the three countries, with the opening games are expected to happen simultaneously. The final World Cup match will potentially be hosted at the home of the New York Jets and New York Giants – MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The 2026 World Cup will mark the first time that the US has hosted the tournament since 1994. The last time Mexico hosted the tournament was in 1986, and 2026 will be the first time that Canada has ever had a World Cup at home.

United States Soccer Federation president Carlos Cordeiro pledged that the event will be the “most extraordinary World Cup ever” in his closing arguments during the vote.

BettingOddsWorldCup.com knows while the 2026 World Cup is likely to draw in record numbers of viewership in a few years, soccer fans in the US and abroad are currently focused on the 2018 World Cup.

Kicking off on Thursday, June 14th in Moscow, Russia, some bettors have already filled out brackets and have their picks for all 64 matches. The first game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup will be where hosts Russia take on Saudi Arabia. At Bovada, Russia is favored to win with -245 betting odds against the Green Falcons.

Heading into the weekend, other big matchups include Portugal vs. Spain on Friday, along with France vs. Australia and Peru vs. Denmark on Saturday.

Brazil is the favorite win it all according to 2018 World Cup Russia futures odds. Brazil has +400 betting odds to win the FIFA World Cup, and you can tune into their first match of the tournament on Sunday, June 17th at 2:00 pm eastern on Fox.