MOSCOW — A combined bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada won the hosting rights for soccer’s 2026 World Cup on Wednesday.
Voters were persuaded by promises of record crowds, record revenues and, perhaps crucially, a record $11 billion in profit for FIFA, world soccer’s governing body.
The North American bid routed its only challenger, Morocco, by a vote of 134 to 65, after which members of the winning delegation leapt out of their seats to embrace one another and celebrate the end of a frenzied period of lobbying.
The United States, Mexico and Canada won the right to host soccer’s 2026 World Cup in a vote of FIFA's member associations on Wednesday. The combined North American bid easily defeated a bid by Morocco, which was trying to become the second African nation to host the soccer tournament. The World Cup in 2026 will be the first in North America since the United States hosted in 1994.
Morocco
North AmericaCanada, Mexico and the United States
Majority needed to win
How Different Regions Voted
Europe
Canada
Central America
and the Caribbean
Asia
U.S.
Morocco
Mexico
Africa
Oceania
South America
Countries are grouped by the region of their soccer confederation. The four countries involved in the bids, as well as three United States territories (Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) were required to abstain from the voting.
Bloc voting by the regional confederations was expected, and indeed many votes largely reflected the location of the bid countries. Nearly every federation in Africa voted for Morocco and all but one of the South American and Caribbean federations, Brazil, voted for the North American bid. The race was won in Europe and Asia, which both broke overwhelmingly for the North American bid.
The United bid had been the front-runner and was the one that FIFA, soccer’s governing body, had ranked higher in a report that noted, “The amount of new infrastructure required for the Morocco 2026 bid to become reality cannot be overstated.”
Wednesday’s vote to award the hosting rights to a World Cup was the first since 2010. That vote sent this year’s tournament to Russia and the 2022 event to Qatar, but also produced widespread accusations of bribery and vote trading and, eventually, a sprawling criminal investigation.
65
Morocco
134
North America
Albania
|
Algeria
|
Angola
|
Belarus
|
Belgium
|
Brazil
|
Brunei
|
Burkina Faso
|
Burundi
|
Cameroon
|
Central African Republic
|
Chad
|
China
|
Comoros
|
Democratic Republic of Congo
|
Djibouti
|
Egypt
|
Equatorial Guinea
|
Eritrea
|
Estonia
|
Ethiopia
|
France
|
Gabon
|
Gambia
|
Guinea-Bissau
|
Italy
|
Ivory Coast
|
Kazakhstan
|
Kenya
|
Libya
|
Luxembourg
|
Macau
|
Madagascar
|
Malawi
|
Mali
|
Mauritania
|
Mauritius
|
Netherlands
|
Niger
|
Nigeria
|
North Korea
|
Oman
|
Palestine
|
Qatar
|
Republic of Congo
|
Rwanda
|
Senegal
|
Serbia
|
Seychelles
|
Slovakia
|
Somalia
|
South Sudan
|
Sudan
|
Swaziland
|
Syria
|
São Tomé and Príncipe
|
Taiwan
|
Tajikistan
|
Tanzania
|
Togo
|
Tunisia
|
Turkey
|
Uganda
|
Yemen
|
Zambia
|
Afghanistan
|
American Samoa
|
Andorra
|
Anguilla
|
Antigua and Barbuda
|
Argentina
|
Armenia
|
Aruba
|
Australia
|
Austria
|
Azerbaijan
|
Bahamas
|
Bahrain
|
Bangladesh
|
Barbados
|
Belize
|
Benin
|
Bermuda
|
Bhutan
|
Bolivia
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
Botswana
|
British Virgin Islands
|
Bulgaria
|
Cambodia
|
Cape Verde Islands
|
Cayman Islands
|
Chile
|
Colombia
|
Cook Islands
|
Costa Rica
|
Croatia
|
Curaçao
|
Cyprus
|
Czech Republic
|
Denmark
|
Dominica
|
Dominican Republic
|
East Timor
|
Ecuador
|
El Salvador
|
England
|
Faroe Islands
|
Fiji
|
Finland
|
Georgia
|
Germany
|
Gibraltar
|
Greece
|
Grenada
|
Guatemala
|
Guinea
|
Guyana
|
Haiti
|
Honduras
|
Hong Kong
|
Hungary
|
Iceland
|
India
|
Indonesia
|
Iraq
|
Ireland
|
Israel
|
Jamaica
|
Japan
|
Jordan
|
Kosovo
|
Kuwait
|
Kyrgyzstan
|
Laos
|
Latvia
|
Lebanon
|
Lesotho
|
Liberia
|
Liechtenstein
|
Lithuania
|
Malaysia
|
Maldives
|
Malta
|
Moldova
|
Mongolia
|
Montenegro
|
Montserrat
|
Mozambique
|
Myanmar
|
Namibia
|
Nepal
|
New Caledonia
|
New Zealand
|
Nicaragua
|
Northern Ireland
|
Norway
|
Pakistan
|
Panama
|
Papua New Guinea
|
Paraguay
|
Peru
|
Philippines
|
Poland
|
Portugal
|
Republic of Macedonia
|
Romania
|
Russia
|
Samoa
|
San Marino
|
Saudi Arabia
|
Scotland
|
Sierra Leone
|
Singapore
|
Solomon Islands
|
South Africa
|
South Korea
|
Sri Lanka
|
St. Kitts and Nevis
|
St. Lucia
|
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
|
Suriname
|
Sweden
|
Switzerland
|
Tahiti
|
Thailand
|
Tonga
|
Trinidad and Tobago
|
Turkmenistan
|
Turks and Caicos Islands
|
Ukraine
|
United Arab Emirates
|
Uruguay
|
Uzbekistan
|
Vanuatu
|
Venezuela
|
Vietnam
|
Wales
|
Zimbabwe
|