VANCOUVER, BC – The City of Vancouver has officially – and unanimously – voted to continue to move forward in the FIFA 2026 Men’s World Cup Bid as a host city.
Currently, Vancouver has been chosen as one of four Canadian cities in the joint bid (Mexico, USA, Canada) to host matches and today the city has voted in favor of continuing the bid process in hopes of officially becoming one of the Canadian cities to host matches.
The United Bid Committee (Canada, Mexico, and USA members) has until the middle of March to submit its bid to FIFA. FIFA is scheduled to announce the overall host by June 13 2018. The only bid competing with the joint bid from Canada, USA, and Mexico is Morocco who in 2017 announced they would bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Once the overall host has been confirmed, then the official host cities from that bid will be announced which may not be announced until June of 2020.
Since Vancouver has many of the facilities already in place, it is thought to be a strong contender to be a host city if Canada, Mexico, and the USA win the overall bid. It is important to note that the overall decision of which cities will host matches ultimately does fall to FIFA.
“We’re delighted to see the unanimous support from City Council to move forward in the process to bring the 2026 FIFA World Cup to Vancouver,” said Bob Lenarduzzi, president of Vancouver Whitecaps FC. “The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup was a landmark event for our city, and the opportunity to again bring the world to our doorstep will create a lasting legacy for future generations. We congratulate the hosting committee on all of their hard work and look forward to continuing to support their efforts.”
“This is a very exciting time for soccer in this Province as we are one step closer to hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” said Jason Elligott BC Soccer Executive Director and member of the Vancouver City Bid Advisor Group.“ The Women’s FIFA World Cup Canada 2015 was the most successful Women’s World Cup to date and we are confident that Vancouver would be an amazing host city for the 2026 Men’s World Cup as well. These competitions help inspire generations to continue to play and stay active in soccer and that is something that BC Soccer completely supports.”
For more information on the United Bid please click HERE.
