2026 World Cup - News, Updates and discussions

[JohnnyFranchise]

2 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

With the very real possibility that cruise ships will be avoiding BC for the foreseeable future and since there was no good reason in the first place to say no. I think its pretty obvious Vancouver will host. 

I'll even add a touch of spice.. the real question... will this mean a new stadium not in Vancouver but in Surrey?

1. we're building a new stadium here?

2. in surrey?

[TGAA_Star]

Just heard Vancouver wants to replace Montreal as a host city and honestly I'm loving this

[SoccMan]

4 hours ago, Free kick said:

I think its a little bit of both.  There is that element of sleezyness on FIFA’s part.  But at the same time, you have to equally blame the naive and greedly local and provincial authorities looking for any kind of free lunch without any kind of commitment.  All the while not realizing that they are dealing with an entity that owns a powerful brand in the world which means they can call the shots.  These people obviously dont realise that this event is the biggest on the planet and the reason its the biggest on the planet is because of the sport. 

If you simply google and read some what out there from local authorities and organizers (In canada)on this topic you hear adjectives like this:  economic boost, exposure for the city, benefits for tourism… etc hardly no mention of soccer or the excitment this event brings or even its value specifically.  Where else in the world would we see these kind of responses.  They view it as just another sports event,  only bigger.  So i am not surprised that the slightest uptick on one side of the ledger,  means that they quickly walk away.

How can they not realize how big the World Cup is? It’s 2021 here in Canada not 1971 .

[Blackjack15]

3 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

Just heard Vancouver wants to replace Montreal as a host city and honestly I'm loving this

Horgan said he has had some “preliminary discussions” with FIFA representatives in Canada. While he said the original proposal would still be too expensive to commit to, he did say that his government is in a “different place” now.

Vancouver back in the running as 2026 FIFA World Cup host city | Offside (dailyhive.com)

[TGAA_Star]

2 hours ago, Blackjack15 said:

Horgan said he has had some “preliminary discussions” with FIFA representatives in Canada. While he said the original proposal would still be too expensive to commit to, he did say that his government is in a “different place” now.

Vancouver back in the running as 2026 FIFA World Cup host city | Offside (dailyhive.com)

Either way 💯 still reason to have hope

[Free kick]

http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2021/09/24/fifa-scrutineers-complete-first-round-world-cup-2026-bid-city-inspections/
 

i am not sure if there is anything new here in this article.  But it does confirm that Vancouver wont be allowed to re-enter the bidding.  So it will be Toronto and Edmonton in the bidding.  Article does also confirms that the ten matches in Canada are set in stone. Therefore with Montreal  dropping out,  it wont mean that those matches (that would have been played there) will go to a US city.  
 

quote: “ …….The arithmetic became complicated with the pull out of Montreal in Canada from the host bidding, leaving just Edmonton and Toronto bidding. There was a rumour that Vancouver would be a late entrant to the bidding but that hasn’t happened.………….”

 

other things confirmed in the piece:

- Victor Montagliani is leading the visits to the various venues as part of the evaluation committees.  What i take from this is that the selection of venues is really an internal one.  Its not going to be anyone from Zurich picking the venues so they’re saying to the organizing committee: “you pick them yourselves.. we dont care”.

- The visits for canada are planned in November. 
 

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2021 by Free kick

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

8 minutes ago, Free kick said:

- Victor Montagliani...the visits for Canada are planned in November. 

Thanks for sharing.

Assuming the #CanMNT does play in Edmonton in November, I wonder if he times the visit to be at that match. Seems probable.

Sad about Vancouver.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[Free kick]

2 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Thanks for sharing.

Assuming the #CanMNT does play in Edmonton in November, I wonder if he times the visit to be at that match. Seems probable.

Sad about Vancouver.

Thats what i have heard as well.  The WCQ matches in Edmonton will serve as the evaluation for Edmonton.

another thing of note:  i have always believed that the whole notion that FIFA picks the sites has alway been a bit of an illusion.  The decision is going to come from the organizers who will communicate it through FiFA so as to not bruise any egos or hurt any feelings among the bidders who are insuccessful.  

Edited September 24, 2021 by Free kick

[Cblake]

If its only t=

2 hours ago, Free kick said:

Thats what i have heard as well.  The WCQ matches in Edmonton will serve as the evaluation for Edmonton.

another thing of note:  the whole notion that FIFA picks the sites has alway been a bit of an illusion.  I have believed this from day one.    The decision is going to come from the organizers who will communicate it through FiFA so as to not bruise any egos or hurt any feelings among the bidders who are insuccessful.  Thats why when you see that there are alot of people in the OC from MLS circles, you know that the cities with MLS teams will have a leg up.   So edmonton is fortunate that Vancouver and Montreal pulled out. 

If only Toronto and Edmonton are finalists , it's practically guaranteed that both of them are picked. There is no way one city would get 10 group stage games. That would be punishing to the field from one standpoint. The Canadian and to a lesser extent the Mexican selection process was always going to be different than the one going on in the US where they have so many venues to pick from that are ready made. 

[Kent]

3 hours ago, Cblake said:

If its only t=

If only Toronto and Edmonton are finalists , it's practically guaranteed that both of them are picked. There is no way one city would get 10 group stage games. That would be punishing to the field from one standpoint. The Canadian and to a lesser extent the Mexican selection process was always going to be different than the one going on in the US where they have so many venues to pick from that are ready made. 

I agree with everything you said, but I just want to point out that at least originally (I assume it's still the same plan) the plan was including some knockout games in Canada and Mexico, not just group stage. I think round of 32 (remember it will be a 48 team World Cup) and round of 16 matches can be played in Canada. It isn't until the quarter finals that it becomes 100% USA.

[Free kick]

On 9/24/2021 at 9:28 PM, Kent said:

I agree with everything you said, but I just want to point out that at least originally (I assume it's still the same plan) the plan was including some knockout games in Canada and Mexico, not just group stage. I think round of 32 (remember it will be a 48 team World Cup) and round of 16 matches can be played in Canada. It isn't until the quarter finals that it becomes 100% USA.

Yes, I think that the original plans were that the three canadian cities would each host a group.  That means three matches for each city for a total of nine.  One Cnd city would get one of the knockout stage matched for a total of ten matches.

With two cities left,  i dont know how they are going to do this. Several pages back, i suggested that they might give one city two groups but someone pointed out a requirement that Fifa will not allow more than one match over a certain number of days on the same surface. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Free kick

[nfitz]

4 hours ago, Free kick said:

Yes, I think that the original plans were that the three canadian cities would each host a group.  That means three matches for each city for a total of nine.  One Cnd city would get ine of the knockout stage matched for a total of ten matches.

If you look at the tentative schedule in the bid, it wasn't going to work like that. It looked like both Edmonton and Toronto would get a Canada game (of which there'd only be two in the group stage, with the 3-team groups). Also, wasn't there only 8 games scheduled in Canada (and Mexico)?

Presumably 4 each in both Edmonton and Toronto.

Edited September 25, 2021 by nfitz

[Cblake]

7 hours ago, nfitz said:

If you look at the tentative schedule in the bid, it wasn't going to work like that. It looked like both Edmonton and Toronto would get a Canada game (of which there'd only be two in the group stage, with the 3-team groups). Also, wasn't there only 8 games scheduled in Canada (and Mexico)?

Presumably 4 each in both Edmonton and Toronto.

It is 10 games to Canada and 10 to Mexico. 

[Dinozotti]

I’m pretty sure there will be some games in the USA as well. I wonder if they are gonna build some stadiums in Canada?

[SoccMan]

5 hours ago, Dinozotti said:

I’m pretty sure there will be some games in the USA as well. I wonder if they are gonna build some stadiums in Canada?

What?

[Free kick]

19 hours ago, nfitz said:

If you look at the tentative schedule in the bid, it wasn't going to work like that. It looked like both Edmonton and Toronto would get a Canada game (of which there'd only be two in the group stage, with the 3-team groups). Also, wasn't there only 8 games scheduled in Canada (and Mexico)?

Presumably 4 each in both Edmonton and Toronto.

As others said, it was always ten games from the get go.   It was speculated that there would be one canada game in Toronto and one In Edmonton but there was nothing on paper stating so.   That doesnt mean it cant be done.  They can move games from within a group from one city to another very easily.  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

I know it is wikipedia as the source but:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_2026_FIFA_World_Cup_bid

The bid book proposal calls for Mexico and Canada to each host seven group-stage games, two matches in the round of 32, and one in the round of 16.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

I know it is wikipedia as the source but:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_2026_FIFA_World_Cup_bid

The bid book proposal calls for Mexico and Canada to each host seven group-stage games, two matches in the round of 32, and one in the round of 16.

Makes sense.  Would allow Canada and Mexico to play all games at home before the quarterfinals

[Watchmen]

On 9/24/2021 at 12:52 PM, Free kick said:

But it does confirm that Vancouver wont be allowed to re-enter the bidding.  

It says that Vancouver hasn't officially re-entered, not that they couldn't.  Though they're running out of time if all bid cities are being visited by the end of November.

[Free kick]

1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

It says that Vancouver hasn't officially re-entered, not that they couldn't.  Though they're running out of time if all bid cities are being visited by the end of November.

Yeah, the more i read, the more things get cloudy.  And it comes down to how you interpret the words.    That link from that source that i posted, seems pretty credible and it says that the late entrance hasnt happened yet.  But this one leaves the door slightly open, though  very slightly:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/fifa-world-cup-2026-vancouver-could-re-enter-early-2022-eyed-for-host-cities-ann

note that the first report was published Sept 24, the Report from the MLS was from Sept 21.   
 

Given that there were technical reports done and published on all the candidates, it would be a bit of an “egg in the face”  or black eye for the whole process if they made late accomodations. 

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Free kick

[nfitz]

6 hours ago, Free kick said:

As others said, it was always ten games from the get go.   It was speculated that there would be one canada game in Toronto and one In Edmonton but there was nothing on paper stating so.   That doesnt mean it cant be done.  They can move games from within a group from one city to another very easily.  

Ah, right ... 10 games.

I thought the tentative schedule and other information in the bid book was enough to decipher that Toronto, at least, got the opening game with Canada - but I haven't looked at it for a while. And the memory cheats ...

And of course - things change.

Edited September 26, 2021 by nfitz

[mrstepp817]

I guess its possible Toronto hosts at two venues??? One group at BMO one group at Rogers Centre???? Long shot but if there's just two Canadian cities and three groups at play I guess its at least plausible?? You can get a group stage played  in ten days so basically MLB would have to send the 'Jays on a two-week road trip to make it happen though

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

The Rogers Centre already dropped out of consideration for Blue Jays related reasons.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/2017/09/07/rogers-centre-dropped-from-2026-world-cup-bid.html

...Two potential Canadian locations narrowed their venue options to one: Toronto will put forward BMO Field because the Rogers Centre is unavailable during the Toronto Blue Jays’ season, and Montreal will propose Olympic Stadium instead of MLS’s Saputo Stadium, which is too small for World Cup matches...

Think people are being a bit naive in assuming 10 games in Canada is 100% carved in stone no matter what, but I'm optimistic Vancouver will ultimately be part of the mix along with Toronto. The athletics track at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton is unlikely to go down well with FIFA, so that's probably the reason Vancouver is still getting talked about so much.

[king1010]

44 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

The Rogers Centre already dropped out of consideration for Blue Jays related reasons.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/2017/09/07/rogers-centre-dropped-from-2026-world-cup-bid.html

...Two potential Canadian locations narrowed their venue options to one: Toronto will put forward BMO Field because the Rogers Centre is unavailable during the Toronto Blue Jays’ season, and Montreal will propose Olympic Stadium instead of MLS’s Saputo Stadium, which is too small for World Cup matches...

Think people are being a bit naive in assuming 10 games in Canada is 100% carved in stone no matter what, but I'm optimistic Vancouver will ultimately be part of the mix along with Toronto. The athletics track at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton is unlikely to go down well with FIFA, so that's probably the reason Vancouver is still getting talked about so much.

Qatar has a couple of stadiums with running tracks. Of course $$$ talks. 

[Kent]

On 9/26/2021 at 2:24 PM, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Makes sense.  Would allow Canada and Mexico to play all games at home before the quarterfinals

Theoretically, but once they are drawn/placed into a group, there will be 2 potential Round of 32 and 2 potential Round of 16 matches they could end up in, depending on if they finish 1st or 2nd in the group (I know they could finish 3rd, or lose in those knockout rounds, just talking about the potentials).

When the details of number of games, and getting games in those first 2 knockout rounds was announced a year or 2 (or 3?) a poster here or maybe on wakingthered mentioned they thought we would get 6 group stage games, getting all games for 2 groups including Canada's group. That would leave 4 games, where we could host both Round of 32 games that Canada could hypothetically make it to, plus the 2 Round of 16 games that Canada could hypothetically make it to. I thought that made a lot of sense and have been hoping that is what happens ever since I read that. If wikipedia is right, it would be a real shame if somehow Canada ends up in the round of 16, but not in the game hosted by Canada.