The United States, Canada and Mexico will host the 2026 World Cup after beating bid rival Morocco, FIFA has announced.
The North America bid received 134 of the 203 votes, while Morocco polled 65 in the vote of the FIFA Congress in Moscow which saw one member vote for “neither bid.”
The 2026 World Cup will be the first expanded tournament featuring 48 teams, up from the current 32-team competition
A total of 80 games will be played with 60 planned in the United States and 10 each in Canada and Mexico with the final played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home to NFL teams New York Giants and New York Jets.
There will be 16 host cities with 10 host in the United States and the others split evenly between Canada and Mexico
Carlos Cordiero, president of the US Soccer Federation, told Congress: “It’s a bit emotional for us today.
“Thank you so, so very much for this incredible honour. Thank you for entrusting us with the privilege of hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
“The beautiful game transcends borders and cultures. Football today is the only victor.
“And in that spirit we wish all Russian hosts and all the teams competing here the very best of luck.”
Morocco have missed out on hosting the World Cup for a fifth time
It is the fifth time Morocco has failed with a bid to host the tournament. The North African country claimed 33 per cent of the vote.
Both bids were given a last chance to make their case with 15-minute presentations in front of Congress, at the Moscow Expocentre, where the North America bid pledged their tournament would generate an 11 billion dollar profit, while Morocco said theirs would make 5 billion.
The 2018 tournament kicks off in Russia on Thursday and the 2022 World Cup is to take place in Qatar.
The English Football Association revealed it had voted for the United 2026 bid in a statement.
A spokesperson said: “We congratulate the USA, Canada and Mexico on winning the bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Both bids were of a very high quality and we welcome the fact that the bidding process was both open and transparent.
“We cast our vote for the United bid as we believe the independent technical assessment made its advantages very clear.
