New York, Los Angeles and Miami are among the US cities that will host 2026 World Cup matches, getting an economic boost as sites of soccer’s biggest championship.
Other cities that will host the mens’ matches include Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco, Kansas City, Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, according to an announcement Thursday by FIFA, soccer’s global governing body.
The expanded 2026 men’s event, featuring 48 teams for the first time, will be played in 16 cities across the three North American countries. The US will host 60 of the 80 matches, including the final.
In Mexico, the capital city as well as Monterrey and Guadalajara will host. In Canada, Toronto and Vancouver made the cut.
The tournament is expected to be one of the most lucrative in the history of global soccer, in part because it will take place in the world’s largest media market. Fox Corp. And NBCUniversal’s Telemundo will broadcast the tournament in English and Spanish to US viewers.
FIFA considered numerous cities as tournament sites. Mayors and governors bid to host matches because of the economic benefits, including visitors, jobs and tax revenue. New York and New Jersey submitted a joint bid to host World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium just outside of New York City.
“When you look at all of the locations that FIFA is looking at, we really represent the global approach to this,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “We are the most diversified region on the entire globe. Many of the fan bases in other cities are located here — they’re expatriates.”
The World Cup, soccer’s biggest championship, takes place every four years. This year’s event takes place in Qatar. The US last hosted the World Cup in 1994, an event that gave rise to Major League Soccer.
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