BC Place in Vancouver and BMO Field in Toronto will host matches during the 2026 World Cup, FIFA announced on Thursday.
The tournament will take place in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The other competing Canadian city was Edmonton, which fell short of being named.
“We fiercely defended, we had our provincial and federal government partners on board to provide funding, and most of all, we had the support of the people of Edmonton,” Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi wrote in a statement.
In addition to Toronto and Vancouver, 16 American regions and three Mexican locations were selected.
The US cities of Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, New York / New Jersey and Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico will have games in the 48- game tournament.
Montreal dropped Canada’s bid last August after the Quebec provincial government withdrew its support, citing excess costs that would have been difficult for taxpayers to justify.
Pavco President and CEO Ken Cretney Melanie Mark MLA and BC Attorney General Mike Farnworth celebrate that Vancouver was selected as one of the host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Thursday, May 16, 2006. June 2022. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
BC Place hosted nine matches during the 2015 Women’s World Cup, including the final, which drew more than 50,000 fans, and Toronto hosted the 2019 Pan American Games.
Both BC Place and BMO Field will require upgrades before the 2026 World Cup, with Vancouver ready to install a turf, and Toronto is expected to expand the stadium’s capacity to the FIFA minimum of 40,000.
Click on the video player above at 6:30 pm ET to see how FIFA officials discuss their selection of host cities.
More to come.
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