Safe, rational and bountifully lucrative as the Fifa decision is to have the 2026 World Cup hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, it is also disappointing for romantics fancying another tournament in Africa – and laced with contradictions, too.
Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, looked opportunistically quick to immediately put himself forward for re-election next year, and he was followed by US president Donald Trump with a self-congratulatory tweet. Hosting World Cups and Olympic Games is openly a politicians’ prestige-burnishing project now, not only for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin or Qatar’s Emir, seeking soft power from hosting in 2022.
Related: US, Canada and Mexico beat Morocco in vote to host 2026 World Cup
Related: Three hosts, 48 teams: how the 2026 World Cup will work
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