The United States’ joint bid with Canada and Mexico once felt like a lock but it is looking more vulnerable by the day thanks in no small part to the US president
Thirteen months ago when the United States launched a joint bid to host the World Cup with Mexico and Canada at a news conference on the 102nd floor of One World Trade Center, the outcome felt like little more than a formality.
There was a compelling proof of concept in USA 94, which set a World Cup attendance record that still stands with nearly 3.6m spectators (for only 52 matches), auguring record-smashing profits for the expanded 48-team, 80-match tournament in 2026. There was a nod toward the fiscally responsible, infrastructure-ready leanings of the moment: the US is one of the few countries on the planet with enough world-class stadiums and airports to host the World Cup tomorrow if it needed to. Perhaps most crucially there was the weakened field of potential hosts, with Europe and Asia sidelined under Fifa’s continental rotation system and no other major player in the race and none on the horizon.
Related: 'We will be watching': Trump defies Fifa with repeat threat over World Cup bid
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