Here Are the US Cities That Will Host World Cup Soccer Matches in 2026
A goal is scored past St. Vincent and the Grenadines goalkeeper Winslow McDowall (22) during a 2015 FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifier Match between the USA and St. Vincent/Grenadines. The USA defeated St. Vincent and the Grenadines 6-1 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO. Photo by Tim Spyers/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Twenty-two locations were in the running for the high-profile tournament, 16 across the U.S., Canada and Mexico won out.
Eleven metro areas around the U.S. will host World Cup soccer games in 2026, FIFA, the international governing organization for the sport, announced on Thursday.
In total, 16 locations will host games as part of the competition. The other five will be in Canada and Mexico. It's the first time that the games for one of the tournaments will be played across three countries. Forty-eight teams will compete during 80 matches.
The U.S. cities and regions that made the cut include: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Houston; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; Miami; New York and New Jersey; Philadelphia; the San Francisco Bay Area; and Seattle.
Officials in the selected cities expressed excitement.
"Hello, world! Welcome to Kansas City," Mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted.
“The World Cup will bring jobs to our residents, will generate hundreds of millions of dollars for our region, and will illustrate on a global stage what we’ve known for some time: Kansas City is the soccer capital of America," he added later in a statement.
Matches in Kansas City will take place at Arrowhead Stadium, home to the city's NFL football team, the Chiefs.
In the Miami area, teams will compete at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, where the Dolphins NFL team plays.
"Soccer runs through the veins of our county. After years of collaboration with partners across the region, we couldn’t be more proud to welcome FIFA to Miami-Dade," the county's mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, said in a statement.
The sites selected in Mexico include Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. The Canadian locations are Toronto and Vancouver.
"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,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.
The U.S. previously hosted the World Cup in 1994 and the women's World Cup in 1999. Overall attendance at the 1994 tournament was around 3.5 million, with average attendance at each game of about 69,000, according to U.S. Soccer.
In total, 22 cities vied to host the 2026 games. Among those that fell short were: Cincinnati, Ohio; Denver; Nashville, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; and the Washington D.C./Baltimore, Maryland region.
The FIFA World Cup tournament is held every four years. This year's event in Qatar will kick off in November.
Bill Lucia is executive editor for Route Fifty.
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