SALT LAKE CITY — The World Cup is coming to the United States again.
FIFA approved a united bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada for the 2026 World Cup.
The month-long soccer tournament will include matches played in all three countries, with the final match being held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, according to The New York Times.
So will a smaller city like Salt Lake City have a chance to host a World Cup match?
The answer, simply, is no.
That’s because Salt Lake City already had its chance to prove itself as a host city. As the Deseret News reported, the Utah capital was listed as one of the potential World Cup cities for the 2026 bid.
The bid specifically included the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium amid its proposed stadiums.
Rice-Eccles was one of the smallest stadiums on the list.
"The Utah Sports Commission is thrilled Salt Lake City is being considered as a host site by the United Bid Committee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup," said Jeff Robbins, president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission, in a news release in October 2017.
But Salt Lake City was not listed among the final U.S. bid cities, according to Sports Illustrated.
Instead, the World Cup in 2026 will feature 80 matches, with 10 played in Canada, 10 in Mexico and 60 in the United States.
The United Bid sent FIFA a list of 17 potential U.S. host cities, including:
United States:
- Atlanta
- Baltimore
- Boston
- Cincinnati
- Dallas
- Denver
- Houston
- Kansas City
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- Nashville
- New York/New Jersey
- Orlando
- Philadelphia
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Washington, D.C.
Mexico:
- Guadalajara
- Mexico City
- Monterrey
Canada:
- Edmonton
- Montreal
- Toronto
That U.S. number will need to be cut down to 10 cities within the next three years, according to Yahoo!
“We’re blessed with world-class facilities,” U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro said in a conference call with reporters after winning the bid. “Some iconic, some brand new, cutting-edge, and everything in between. … This is not a decision I’m looking forward to, because it’s going to be very, very hard.”
The United States previously hosted the World Cup in 1994. Mexico played host in 1970 and 1986. Canada has never hosted, although Vancouver hosted the 2015 Women's World Cup.