The U.S. Wins 2026 World Cup Bid, Ensuring the USMNT Will Play

| Posted on |

On the eve of the 2018 World Cup, a tournament that the United States failed to make, good news was given to the red, white, and blue: They won the bid for the 2026 World Cup.

The U.S. more than doubled the vote total by Morocco (which would have made for a killer trip) on their way to becoming the host, something they should have won back when Qatar won. The U.S. has an infinitely better infrastructure than Qatar, and they won’t have to risk the lives of thousands to ensure that everything will be ready.

This is huge for number of reasons, but the most important may be the automatic bid that comes with being the host team. Ideally, we would’ve made it in because of our merits on the field, but in case we have another catastrophic collapse like we did this year, it’s nice to know that we’re for sure in already.

That’s massive if we want to continue to grow the sport on a grassroots level. Much like in 1994, kids will be able to see the excitement and energy surrounding the World Cup, and this time, the excitement about the sport is already so much higher.

By that point, the USMNT should be a much stronger group. Pulisic should be a bona fide superstar, and the rest of the youth movement should be seasoned veterans. It will be the biggest stage any of them have ever played, and the spotlight will be scalding due to the location of the tournament. It will define USA soccer moving forward.

While 60 of the games will be played on U.S. soil, we’ll also be sharing the wealth with our neighbors to the north and south. Canada and Mexico will combine for 10 games in the 2026 World Cup.

Here’s a list of available venues:

LA, Seattle, and New York are sure things. One of the two Texas stadiums will for sure get a bid, as will Atlanta. Things start to get murky from there. I believe Boston, Philly, and D.C./Baltimore will also get some, but they may choose to pick one to keep things spread out.

Selfishly, I’d love to see one come to Nashville to better ensure that I’ll be at a game, but they may be comfortable with just Atlanta.

All that information will trickle out in the years to come, but we know one thing for certain.

The U.S. will once again be the center of the soccer world.