U.S. Will Join Forces with Mexico and Canada to Host the 2026 World Cup by Washington Post, Adapted by Newsela Staﬀ on 06.15.18 Word Count 848 Level 1060L

U.S. will join forces with Mexico and Canada to host the 2026 World Cup By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staﬀ on 06.15.18 Word Count 848 Level 1060L

United 2026 bid (Canada-Mexico-United States) oﬃcials Carlos Cordeiro (second from left), president of the United States Football Association, Decio de Maria Serrano (second from right), president of the Mexican Football Association, and Steve Reed (left), president of the Canadian Soccer Association, react to the announcement that the United States, Mexico and Canada will host the 2026 World Cup. The announcement was made during the 68th FIFA Congress at the Expocentre in Moscow, Russia, on June 13, 2018. Photo by: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getting Images

In 2026, the World Cup will return to the United States. This time, Mexico and Canada are joining as partners to host soccer's biggest tournament.

A North American joint bid won the rights on Wednesday, June 13, to host the 2026 edition of the celebrated soccer tournament. The joint North American bid defeated Morocco.

The North American eﬀort is known as the United Bid. FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, favored the United Bid. It won in a landslide vote, 134 to 65.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1 Thus, 32 years after setting World Cup attendance records while hosting the 1994 competition, the United States will join forces with its neighbors to organize a championship. The 2026 tournament will expand to 48 teams from 32.

Mexico hosted the World Cup in 1970 and '86. Canada is involved for the ﬁrst time. It will mark the ﬁrst time three countries have shared the planet's most popular sporting event.

Majority Of Matches Will Be Played In U.S.

In an agreement announced when the bid launched last year, the United States will stage 60 of the 80 matches, including all from the quarterﬁnals on. Mexico and Canada will get 10 apiece. Twenty-three cities are in the running to become the 16 match venues. In all likelihood, 11 of the 17 proposed U.S. sites will make the cut. A decision is not expected for another two years.

The vote on June 13 was conducted during the FIFA Congress at Moscow's expo center in Russia. The vote provided a much-needed victory for American soccer. The U.S. is in the process of rebuilding the men's program in the wake of last fall's failure to qualify for this summer's World Cup in Russia. The Americans are absent from the tournament for the ﬁrst time since 1986. The tournament began on Thursday, June 14, in Moscow with Russia facing Saudi Arabia.

The bid victory will also stack the U.S. sports landscape with major competitions for perhaps three years in a row. Besides the 2026 World Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation is planning to bid for the 2027 Women's World Cup. Los Angeles is set to host the 2028 Olympic Games.

U.S. soccer oﬃcials see the 2026 championship as an opportunity to further grow a sport that has blossomed since the '94 tournament. Soccer has become more popular in recent decades. Its popularity has risen due to North American leagues such as Major League Soccer and United Soccer League.

In making its case to voting members, the North American bid showed oﬀ the quantity and quality of available stadiums. It also mentioned North America's experience in staging major events. The United Bid nations said they have the infrastructure necessary to transport and house tens of thousands of visiting fans. They also said they would make an $11 billion proﬁt for FIFA. That money could help build regional soccer organizations around the world in need of funding to grow programs and build facilities.

U.S. Makes Final Push For Bid

In a ﬁnal presentation to the assembly on Wednesday, June 13, representatives pointed out that every region of the world has hosted the tournament since the United States hosted in 1994. To counter concerns about too much travel, the bid said teams would be placed in regional clusters. It also has proposed not one traditional opening match but three, with one in each nation.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2 The bid received a promise from the White House. President Trump's administration has made it harder for people from some countries to travel to America. The White House said fans from all parts of the world with proper documentation would be able to attend the tournament, though.

Morocco has made ﬁve unsuccessful bids to host the World Cup. With the tournament expanding to include more teams, voters seemed uncertain that the country could handle such a large-scale competition.

Morocco would have had to build several new stadiums and make signiﬁcant improvements to its infrastructure, like its roads and airports. This was a challenge for Brazil, which hosted the World Cup in 2014.

Usually, the World Cup host country receives an automatic spot in the tournament. With three hosts, FIFA will decide whether that will still happen in 2026. The only other time countries shared the World Cup was in 2002, when Japan and South Korea were given passes into the competition.

A Number Of Cities Are Up For Consideration

Canada would beneﬁt the most from getting an automatic spot, considering it has not successfully qualiﬁed on its own since 1986. Mexico and the United States have each appeared in 7 of the past 8 World Cups.

Mexican cities under consideration are Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City. Canada narrowed its list to Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton.

The U.S. metro areas in the running are Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Jose, Seattle and Washington.

FIFA will work with the local organizing committee to make the ﬁnal venue decisions.

Two notable absences, Chicago and Vancouver, did not agree to FIFA's requirements for hosting games. Both cities withdrew from consideration.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3 Quiz

1 Select the sentence that BEST summarizes the article.

(A) The United States and Mexico have talented and successful soccer teams that usually play in the World Cup.

(B) FIFA is the governing body that makes decisions about international soccer and the World Cup.

(D) FIFA voted to have the United States, Canada and Mexico jointly host the 2026 World Cup.

2 HOW does the information in the section "U.S. Makes Final Push For Bid" support the MAIN idea of the article?

(A) It explains how the White House helped the United States win the World Cup bid.

(B) It explains the process for the North American group to be chosen as the host site.

(D) It explains the problems facing the North American countries who will host the World Cup.

3 HOW does FIFA choose the World Cup host?

(A) Countries make a plan, and FIFA votes on which country will host the World Cup.

(B) Diﬀerent cities make a bid to FIFA, and the president chooses who will host.

(D) FIFA chooses between diﬀerent cities in North America to host each match.

4 Complete the sentence.

Because of the United Bid, ____.

(A) Chicago and Vancouver withdrew from consideration

(B) the tournament will grow from 32 to 48 teams

(D) Morocco will not host the 2026 World Cup

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4