After being held back by the pandemic, the race between 17 American cities to host games for the 2026 World Cup has resumed.
Two FIFA inspectors visited Atlanta on Friday to take a look at the 72,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Victor Montagliani, vice president of FIFA and president of CONCACAF, joked that Atlanta is now “a city of soccer”, but not of American football, but “of the one that is played all over the world.”
Atlanta is counting on its retractable roof stadium, opened in 2017, and its history of organizing sporting events, from the Super Bowl to the Olympics, allowing it to host an event considered by some to be the largest of all.
Montagliani and Colin Smith, head of FIFA tournaments and events, have already visited Boston and Nashville. In the next week, they have scheduled stops in Orlando, Washington, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and Miami.
In the next two months, FIFA will complete its visits to the other finalist cities in the United States: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Kansas City, Houston, Dallas and Cincinnati.
The United States won the World Cup headquarters, along with Mexico and Canada. It will be the first World Cup to be held simultaneously in three countries.
Visits to sub-sites were postponed due to the pandemic, as was their final selection, now scheduled for early 2022.
In neighboring countries, there is not so much suspense about the cities where there will be World Cup matches.
Mexico put forward three candidates – the capital, Monterrey and Guadalajara – as well as Canada – although Montreal recently withdrew as the government refused to absorb the rising costs, leaving Toronto and Edmonton as options.
It is unknown how many US cities will be selected. It was considered that there would be about 10, before the withdrawal from Montreal generated speculation about an eleventh place.
“You never stipulate exactly how many we are going to have in each country,” Montagliani said. “At the end of the day, we are going to make the best decision for the World Cup itself, no matter what the number is.”
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