New York, June 17 (IANS): The United States will have 11 of the 16 hosts cities at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will also feature matches in Mexico and Canada, the world football governing body has said.
The 2026 edition of the World Cup will be the first to feature 48 teams and three host countries, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Thursday night that he was delighted by the "unparalleled competitiveness of this selection process".
Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and New York/New Jersey were the US cities named during an event in New York City.
Mexico will hold games in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey while Canada's Vancouver and Toronto were also chosen from a preliminary list of 22.
The cities which missed out were Cincinnati, Denver, Nashville, Orlando, Washington DC/Baltimore and Edmonton.
The US will be staging the event for a second time, having also done so in 1994. Mexico was the tournament host in 1970 and 1986.
"We congratulate the 16 FIFA World Cup host cities on their outstanding commitment and passion. Today is a historic day -- for everyone in those cities and states, for FIFA, for Canada, the USA and Mexico who will put on the greatest show on Earth. We look forward to working together with them to deliver what will be an unprecedented FIFA World Cup and a game-changer as we strive to make football truly global," said Infantino.
"We were delighted by the unparalleled competitiveness of this selection process. We are extremely grateful not only to the 16 cities that have been selected, but also to the other six - with whom we look forward to continuing to engage and explore additional opportunities to welcome fans and participating teams. This has always been a FIFA World Cup of three countries, and that undoubtedly will have a tremendous impact on the whole region and the wider football community," added FIFA vice-president and Concacaf president Victor Montagliani.