Three countries jointly host the World Cup. Why can the United States, Canada and Mexico join forces to win the right to host the World Cup?

At the FIFA Conference in Moscow on June 13, 2018, the joint bid by three countries defeated Morocco by 134 votes to 65 votes to win the right to host the 2026 World Cup. The United States, Canada, and Mexico are jointly hosting the event. This is the first formal trilateral joint hosting plan in the history of the World Cup, breaking the tradition of a single bid by the previous host country.

The reason why the United States, Canada and Mexico can join forces to seize this project is based on politics, business, and the new logic after FIFA's reform. Judging from the results, FIFA chose a plan that maximized commercial returns, but the choice itself was full of drama.

How does the Three Kingdoms Joint Office divide labor?

The United States is responsible for 78 games, including all top 32, top 16, top 8, semi-finals, and finals. The core of this World Cup is held in the United States. Mexico and Canada each undertake 13 games, mainly in the group stages.

The 11 host cities in the United States include New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Boston, etc., covering major cities on the east and west coasts. The three host cities in Mexico are Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The two Canadian host cities are Toronto and Vancouver.

Why is this the three-nation joint office?

The most direct reason is economic strength. The host country of the World Cup needs at least 12 stadiums that meet FIFA standards, each with a capacity of more than 40,000 people, plus supporting hotels, airports, and security. A medium-sized country simply cannot afford this kind of investment. In 2014, Brazil spent US$15 billion on hosting the World Cup, draining its own finances.

The United States itself has more than 40 NFL professional stadiums, each of which meets FIFA standards. Mexico has the Azteca Stadium (100,000 capacity), and Canada has a large multi-purpose stadium. The joint hosting of the three countries means that FIFA can choose the best venues and does not have to worry about infrastructure.

political considerations

The United States, Canada, and Mexico are all members of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). When the trilateral joint office was proposed in 2018, Trump was renegotiating NAFTA. The sports departments of the three countries unanimously regard the World Cup as a political symbol to demonstrate North American unity.

FIFA was worried that Trump's anti-immigration policies would affect World Cup entry visas, but the Trump administration quickly stated that it would open a green channel specifically for World Cup participants and fans. This guarantee reassured FIFA that the majority of member states chose to support the joint hosting plan in the final vote.

Reasons why Morocco’s bid failed

Morocco is another bidder for 2026, a separate bid. Morocco's advantages are the enthusiasm for football in the Arab world, easy access to European and African fans, and low bid costs (about 16 billion US dollars compared to 25 billion in the United States, Canada and Mexico).

However, FIFA's technical assessment gave Morocco a lower score than the United States, Canada and Mexico. Morocco's stadium infrastructure evaluation score is 2.7 (out of 5), and the United States, Canada and Mexico score 4.0. Business evaluation: Morocco 3.0, United States, Canada and Mexico 4.1. FIFA ultimately voted 134 to 65 in overwhelming support of the US-Canada-Mexico plan. This vote gap made the president of the Moroccan Football Association cry on the spot.

The US market is key

What FIFA really wants is the US market. The United States is the world's largest sports consumer market, with an annual sports output value exceeding US$800 billion. However, football's market share has been suppressed to about 5% by the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

FIFA believes that hosting the World Cup in the United States can completely open up the football market in the United States. The United States hosted a World Cup in 1994, which resulted in the birth of the MLS league. The goal for 2026 is even more ambitious, hoping to make football the fourth largest professional sport in the United States and drive an annual growth of US$2 billion in the football industry.

Canada hosts World Cup for first time

Canada's men's football team has only participated in one World Cup in history, in 1986. This is the second time the host country has entered the World Cup. The Canadian Football Association immediately launched youth training reform after receiving the right to host the game, and began sending young players to Europe in 2022. Currently, there are many stars such as Alphonso Davies (Bayern) and Jonathan David (Lille).

The local football atmosphere in Canada has never been as good as ice hockey, but the 2026 World Cup has made young Canadians start to pay attention to football. The number of registrations for football youth training schools in the two host cities of Toronto and Vancouver has tripled since 2020.

Mexico's Dual Identity

Mexico was the host country of the World Cup in 1970 and 1986. In 2026, it became the first country in history to host the World Cup three times. The Azteca Stadium is also the first stadium in history to host World Cup matches three times.

The Mexican team itself is a strong team in North America, and its home games against the United States and Canada are expected to be the hottest tickets this year. Mexico City is 2,240 meters above sea level, which poses a physical challenge to European and South American teams and is an invisible advantage for the Mexican team.

The funding game of bidding

The US$25 billion cost of the US-Canada-Mexico Joint Office will be shared proportionally among the three countries. The United States will bear about 60% (including infrastructure upgrades, security, hotels), and Mexico and Canada will each bear 20%.

FIFA's share to the host country is a fixed proportion of about 15% of the total revenue. It is estimated that the three countries will receive a total of 1.65 billion US dollars. The money is distributed according to the number of events hosted, with the United States receiving 78%, Mexico and Canada each receiving 11%. The United States has the largest net benefits but also the highest costs, barely breaking even on its books.

What really makes money is the tourism, hotels, and restaurants in each host city. It is estimated that the total consumption during the World Cup will reach 12 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to 25 times that of Super Rugby.

Will the co-organisation model become the future?

The 2030 World Cup is a century-old World Cup co-organized by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, plus Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay each hosting one to pay tribute to the first one in 1930. This is the more complicated Six Nations Joint Organizing Committee.

In the future, the World Cup is likely to bid farewell to the era of single-country hosting. FIFA officials publicly stated that it is almost impossible for a country to independently host a 48-team World Cup. The future trend is for two to three countries to jointly host the World Cup to share costs and risks. This model allows small countries to also have the opportunity to become one of the joint members, which is a key step for FIFA to promote the globalization of football.

The legacy of the US-Canada-Mexico Joint Office

The legacy left after the World Cup is the fusion of the football cultures of the three countries. The U.S.-Canada-Mexico Football League is under preparation, with the goal of allowing clubs from the three countries to move players across borders more freely and hold joint events. If this regional football ecology succeeds, it will become the third pole after the five major European leagues and the South American Liberty Cup.

The 2026 World Cup is not just a tournament, it is a turning point for North American football. The success of the tri-nation joint venture will determine the direction of world football in the next ten years.