2026 FIFA World Cup bids

The FIFA Council (and its proceeding Executive Committee) went back and forth between 2013 and 2017 on limitations within hosting rotation based on the continental confederations. Originally, it was set that bids to be host would not be allowed from countries belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments. It was temporarily changed to only prohibit countries belonging to the confederation that hosted the previous World Cup from bidding to host the following tournament,[2] before the rule was changed back to its prior state of two World Cups. However, the FIFA Council did make an exception to potentially grant eligibility to member associations of the confederation of the second-to-last host of the FIFA World Cup in the event that none of the received bids fulfill the strict technical and financial requirements.[3][4] In March 2017, FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed that "Europe (UEFA) and Asia (AFC) are excluded from the bidding following the selection of Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively."[5] Therefore, the 2026 World Cup could be hosted by one of the remaining four confederations: CONCACAF (last hosted in 1994), CAF (last hosted in 2010), CONMEBOL (last hosted in 2014), or OFC (never hosted before), or potentially by UEFA in case no bid from those four met the requirements.

Co-hosting the FIFA World Cup, which had been banned by FIFA after the 2002 World Cup, was approved for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, though not limited to a specific number but instead evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Also by 2026, the FIFA general secretariat, after consultation with the Competitions Committee, will have the power to exclude bidders who do not meet the minimum technical requirements to host the competition.[3]

The bidding process was due to start in 2015, with the appointment of hosts scheduled for the FIFA Congress on 10 May 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,[6][7] but was postponed due to the 2015 FIFA corruption case and the subsequent resignation of Sepp Blatter[8] and resumed following the FIFA Council meeting on 10 May 2016, with a final decision in May 2020,[9] amid corruption allegations around the previous tournaments, due to be held in 2018 (Russia), as well as in 2022 (Qatar).[10][11]

The original bidding process originally consisted of four phases:[9]

• May 2016 – May 2017: a new strategy and consultation phase
• June 2017 – December 2018: enhanced phases for bid preparation
• January 2019 – February 2020: bid evaluation
• May 2020: final decision

The consultation phase focused on four areas:

• The inclusion of human rights requirements, sustainable event management, environmental protection in the bidding
• Principle of exclusion of bidders that do not meet technical requirements
• Review of the current stance on joint bids
• Number of teams

On 7 November 2017, FIFA published a guide to bidding process. It outlines the key elements of the reformed bidding process, the assessment mechanisms in place, recommendations on the protection of the process' integrity, the timeline for the selection of the host(s), the specific requirements for hosting, a detailed explanation of the government guarantees, as well as the principles of sustainable event management and human rights protection.[12][13]

Under FIFA rules as of 2017, the 2026 Cup cannot be in either Europe (UEFA) or Asia (AFC),[4][23] leaving an African (CAF) bid, a North American (CONCACAF) bid, a South American (CONMEBOL) bid, or an Oceania (OFC) bid as the only possible options.[24] In March 2017, FIFA confirmed that "Europe (UEFA) and Asia (AFC) are excluded from the bidding following the selection of Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively."[5]

Some of the main requirements addressed by FIFA are security, finance and hospitality, and Morocco fulfills all these requirements as this has been proven by the outcome of the FIFA Task Force: The note was 2,7 from the total of 5 points. Additionally the travel time between the proposed venues is manageable, since all the venues are within a one-hour flight of Casablanca. Another point is the suitable global time, because in Morocco the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the local time and therefore a large number of countries can watch the live transmission of the games in a suitable time. Finally the proximity to Europe is a good advantage for a large number of European supporters.

However, multiple risks exist for FIFA with the bid. In its evaluation report, Morocco received high risk options for stadiums, accommodation and transportation. Overall the bid was labelled as high risk and the United joint bid was rated as low risk to FIFA.[34]

203 of the 211 member associations of FIFA were able to vote.

The eight ineligible associations were as follows:

• The four bidding nations, Morocco, Canada, Mexico and the United States, and three organized unincorporated territories of the U.S. (Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) were ineligible to vote.[35] American Samoa, an unorganized unincorporated territory of the U.S., was allowed to vote.
• Ghana was barred from voting after the country's FA was suspended amid a corruption scandal.[36][37][38]

The United bid won receiving 134 votes, while the Morocco bid received 65 votes. No representative within their home confederation CONCACAF voted against the United bid, whilst eleven representatives within their home confederation CAF voted against the Morocco bid. The Brazil representative voted for the Morocco bid reportedly thinking the vote was private,[39] despite its home confederation CONMEBOL having endorsed the United bid overall.[40] Iran voted for the option "None of the bids", while Cuba, Slovenia and Spain abstained from voting.[41]

Election results by association

Map of the votes given by football associations to the 2026 FIFA World Cup bids.

Allowed to vote	Banned from voting
Voted for United bid	Canada/Mexico/United States/Puerto Rico/US Virgin Islands/Guam
Voted for Moroccan bid	Morocco
Voted for neither	Sanctioned by FIFA
Abstained from voting	Not a FIFA member

Conf.	Football association	Vote			Abst.
		U	M	N
AFC	Afghanistan	U
	Australia	U
	Bangladesh	U
	Bahrain	U
	Bhutan	U
	Brunei Darussalam		M
	Cambodia	U
	China		M
	Chinese Taipei		M
	East Timor	U
	Hong Kong	U
	India	U
	Indonesia	U
	Iran			N
	Iraq	U
	Japan	U
	Jordan	U
	Kuwait	U
	Kyrgyzstan	U
	Laos	U
	Lebanon	U
	Macau		M
	Malaysia	U
	Maldives	U
	Mongolia	U
	Myanmar	U
	Nepal	U
	North Korea		M
	Oman		M
	Pakistan	U
	Palestine		M
	Philippines	U
	Qatar		M
	Saudi Arabia	U
	Singapore	U
	Sri Lanka	U
	South Korea	U
	Syria		M
	Tajikistan		M
	Thailand	U
	Turkmenistan	U
	United Arab Emirates	U
	Uzbekistan	U
	Vietnam	U
	Yemen		M
AFC subtotal: 45 valid ballots		33	11	1	0
CAF	Algeria		M
	Angola		M
	Benin	U
	Botswana	U
	Burkina Faso		M
	Burundi		M
	Cameroon		M
	Cape Verde	U
	Central African Republic		M
	Chad		M
	Comoros		M
	Congo		M
	DR Congo		M
	Djibouti		M
	Egypt		M
	Equatorial Guinea		M
	Eritrea		M
	Ethiopia		M
	Gabon		M
	Gambia		M
	Guinea	U
	Guinea-Bissau		M
	Ivory Coast		M
	Kenya		M
	Lesotho	U
	Liberia	U
	Libya		M
	Madagascar		M
	Malawi		M
	Mali		M
	Mauritania		M
	Mauritius		M
	Mozambique	U
	Namibia	U
	Niger		M
	Nigeria		M
	Rwanda		M
	São Tomé and Príncipe		M
	Senegal		M
	Seychelles		M
	Sierra Leone	U
	Somalia		M
	South Africa	U
	South Sudan		M
	Sudan		M
	Swaziland		M
	Tanzania		M
	Togo		M
	Tunisia		M
	Uganda		M
	Zambia		M
	Zimbabwe	U
CAF subtotal: 52 valid ballots		11	41	0	0
CONCACAF	Anguilla	U
	Antigua and Barbuda	U
	Aruba	U
	Bahamas	U
	Barbados	U
	Belize	U
	Bermuda	U
	British Virgin Islands	U
	Cayman Islands	U
	Costa Rica	U
	Cuba				A
	Curaçao	U
	Dominica	U
	Dominican Republic	U
	El Salvador	U
	Grenada	U
	Guatemala	U
	Guyana	U
	Haiti	U
	Honduras	U
	Jamaica	U
	Montserrat	U
	Nicaragua	U
	Panama	U
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	U
	Saint Lucia	U
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	U
	Suriname	U
	Trinidad and Tobago	U
	Turks and Caicos Islands	U
CONCACAF subtotal: 29 valid ballots		29	0	0	1
CONMEBOL	Argentina	U
	Bolivia	U
	Brazil		M
	Chile	U
	Colombia	U
	Ecuador	U
	Paraguay	U
	Peru	U
	Uruguay	U
	Venezuela	U
CONMEBOL subtotal: 10 valid ballots		9	1	0	0
OFC	American Samoa	U
	Cook Islands	U
	Fiji	U
	New Caledonia	U
	New Zealand	U
	Papua New Guinea	U
	Samoa	U
	Solomon Islands	U
	Tahiti	U
	Tonga	U
	Vanuatu	U
OFC subtotal: 11 valid ballots		11	0	0	0
UEFA	Albania		M
	Andorra	U
	Armenia	U
	Austria	U
	Azerbaijan	U
	Belarus		M
	Belgium		M
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	U
	Bulgaria	U
	Croatia	U
	Cyprus	U
	Czech Republic	U
	Denmark	U
	England	U
	Estonia		M
	Faroe Islands	U
	Finland	U
	France		M
	Georgia	U
	Germany	U
	Gibraltar	U
	Greece	U
	Hungary	U
	Iceland	U
	Israel	U
	Italy		M
	Kazakhstan		M
	Kosovo	U
	Latvia	U
	Liechtenstein	U
	Lithuania	U
	Luxembourg		M
	Macedonia	U
	Malta	U
	Moldova	U
	Montenegro	U
	Netherlands		M
	Northern Ireland	U
	Norway	U
	Poland	U
	Portugal	U
	Republic of Ireland	U
	Romania	U
	Russia	U
	San Marino	U
	Scotland	U
	Serbia		M
	Slovakia		M
	Slovenia				A
	Spain				A[lower-alpha 1]
	Sweden	U
	Switzerland	U
	Turkey		M
	Ukraine	U
	Wales	U
UEFA subtotal: 53 valid ballots		41	12	0	2
Total: 200 valid ballots (100%)		134 (67.0%)	65 (32.5%)	1 (0.5%)	3

•  Canada – CTV, TSN, RDS[43][44]
•  United States – Fox, Telemundo[45]
•  Mexico - Canal 5, Azteca 7.[46]

On 12 February 2015, Fox, Telemundo, and Bell Media's rights to the tournament were renewed by FIFA to cover 2026, without accepting any other bids. The New York Times believed that this extension was intended as compensation for the rescheduling of the 2022 World Cup to November–December rather than its traditional June–July scheduling, which falls during the heart of the National Football League season (where Fox is currently a main U.S. rightsholder), and the beginning of the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League seasons.[47][48][49]