FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread

[Weawant]

We know African countries usually don't have a good amount of investment in their teams and they usually don't get good results because of that, also there you can't find good sport facilities in most of the countries. While there is a better situation in Asian countries.

In most African countries it's true that football is still at a developing stage where they still trying to find opportunities in sports investment especially with football, most investors and concentrated in Europe and probably other continents where the game of football and sports in general has past it's development stages and they could get good investment opportunities in sports.

It is mostly national investment for most African teams, they are mostly sponsored by the government of their various countries and at some point some well meaning individuals who have love for the national team or are showing some level of patriotism at some point.this can account for the poor performance and results gotten by African teams most of the times when they come for world cup games.

They also have little to no good sport facilities which was supposed to be used for their trainings, sometimes the travel to Europe to train because back here in Africa, except for national facilities like state owned stadiums, you hardly find another and sometimes this stadium happens to be in bad shape as they have poor maintenance culture so the comparison between Africa and Asia was not making sense as the difference that lays in-between is just too much.

[nullama]

~snip~
In most African countries it's true that football is still at a developing stage where they still trying to find opportunities in sports investment especially with football, most investors and concentrated in Europe and probably other continents where the game of football and sports in general has past it's development stages and they could get good investment opportunities in sports.

It is mostly national investment for most African teams, they are mostly sponsored by the government of their various countries and at some point some well meaning individuals who have love for the national team or are showing some level of patriotism at some point.this can account for the poor performance and results gotten by African teams most of the times when they come for world cup games.

They also have little to no good sport facilities which was supposed to be used for their trainings, sometimes the travel to Europe to train because back here in Africa, except for national facilities like state owned stadiums, you hardly find another and sometimes this stadium happens to be in bad shape as they have poor maintenance culture so the comparison between Africa and Asia was not making sense as the difference that lays in-between is just too much.

I keep hearing that this or that country is not great in football because they don't have enough money.

In reality, there are examples of countries that are great in football and are very poor, Brazil being the most extreme case. Many of the players in Brazil grew up playing football without shoes, and even without food some days. Still, Brazil is the most successful country in the World Cup history.

Most South American teams share a similar story.

So, there is the proof that you don't need money to be the best in football

[Sithara007]

I keep hearing that this or that country is not great in football because they don't have enough money.

In reality, there are examples of countries that are great in football and are very poor, Brazil being the most extreme case. Many of the players in Brazil grew up playing football without shoes, and even without food some days. Still, Brazil is the most successful country in the World Cup history.

Most South American teams share a similar story.

So, there is the proof that you don't need money to be the best in football

I am not sure about this. Brazil is a relatively prosperous nation, at least when compared to Asian and African nations. But it is true that there are quite a few informal settlements in Brazil (known as Favelas, with a total population of close to 11-12 million spread across 6,000+ localities), where the living standards are too low. But these sort of ghettoes can be found even in developed nations such as the United States and France. That doesn't mean that those who live there face too many obstacles in developing their game.

[Rampagoe004]

I keep hearing that this or that country is not great in football because they don't have enough money.

In reality, there are examples of countries that are great in football and are very poor, Brazil being the most extreme case. Many of the players in Brazil grew up playing football without shoes, and even without food some days. Still, Brazil is the most successful country in the World Cup history.

Most South American teams share a similar story.

So, there is the proof that you don't need money to be the best in football

I am not sure about this. Brazil is a relatively prosperous nation, at least when compared to Asian and African nations. But it is true that there are quite a few informal settlements in Brazil (known as Favelas, with a total population of close to 11-12 million spread across 6,000+ localities), where the living standards are too low. But these sort of ghettoes can be found even in developed nations such as the United States and France. That doesn't mean that those who live there face too many obstacles in developing their game.

What makes football in Brazil great even though it is categorized as a poor country is, they are poor economically but they are very advanced in football. I think it is not suitable when Brazil's poverty is used as a reference as a poor country that is advanced in football. You can see that clubs in Brazil's top league often win the Libertadores and are often finalists in the Club World Cup. This means they have everything in football. At least Brazil has many talent scouts from various clubs or even from Europe, unlike countries in Asia and Africa where it is very difficult to penetrate the national level due to the lack of football facilities in those countries.

[jaberwock]

I don't know who ever came up with this idea that FIFA should host the world cup in three countries, I mean this is really crazy as it has so many demerits than merits, this is a personal opinion tho, because it's really going to cause really much expenses both on the fans and the various teams who will be participating in the world cup, it will be aswell hectic.

Traveling from the united states to Canada is about 3hrs or more on flight, this could possibly put player at risk of fatigue especially if they will have to travel two countries in a week due to fixtures, except the may have good adjustments in their fixtures to reduce too much of travel, although it's obvious most of the games will be in the states but then other games which will require them travel is my concern.

The fans on the other hand may not aswell find it easy as they will be challenged especially with countries that have travel restrictions as can be seen with some African countries and the states, but then let's hope FIFA would put measures in place to curb all this bottlenecks before, during and after the world cup. But the I see an exciting world cup as it's a first time they will be trying out so many new stuffs.

Money. That is always the answer whenever Fifa does something to be fair and this time it's letting it host by three different nations instead of just one, to increase the revenue if they can, last time it was Qatar because they got bribed billions, which was not just some rumor because even the president was fired for accepting a bribe, so it's an official fact.

All in all I am guessing that this will yield a good return as well so it will be profitable for Fifa to host it there in the end. Hopefully, next one after this will be a decent one, I really want UK to host one, all by themselves because they already have four nations there, it could be a Wembley finals, but until then we could see Ireland, Scotland wales all partake in it.

[Jody.Drummer]

I keep hearing that this or that country is not great in football because they don't have enough money.

In reality, there are examples of countries that are great in football and are very poor, Brazil being the most extreme case. Many of the players in Brazil grew up playing football without shoes, and even without food some days. Still, Brazil is the most successful country in the World Cup history.

Most South American teams share a similar story.

So, there is the proof that you don't need money to be the best in football

I am not sure about this. Brazil is a relatively prosperous nation, at least when compared to Asian and African nations. But it is true that there are quite a few informal settlements in Brazil (known as Favelas, with a total population of close to 11-12 million spread across 6,000+ localities), where the living standards are too low. But these sort of ghettoes can be found even in developed nations such as the United States and France. That doesn't mean that those who live there face too many obstacles in developing their game.

What makes football in Brazil great even though it is categorized as a poor country is, they are poor economically but they are very advanced in football. I think it is not suitable when Brazil's poverty is used as a reference as a poor country that is advanced in football. You can see that clubs in Brazil's top league often win the Libertadores and are often finalists in the Club World Cup. This means they have everything in football. At least Brazil has many talent scouts from various clubs or even from Europe, unlike countries in Asia and Africa where it is very difficult to penetrate the national level due to the lack of football facilities in those countries.

Football is the most popular sport there, I have seen many videos circulating on social media showing almost every child already playing football there, not only on the field but also anywhere as long as they can play football. That's why there are many young talents who are very potential there, you could say they already have natural talent with their environmental habits. And they hone it by joining a soccer school or something like that, which makes their talents will be channeled properly.
They are indeed many who are born with talent and it is a very potential young seed that is in Brazil.

[Leviathan.007]

I keep hearing that this or that country is not great in football because they don't have enough money.

In reality, there are examples of countries that are great in football and are very poor, Brazil being the most extreme case. Many of the players in Brazil grew up playing football without shoes, and even without food some days. Still, Brazil is the most successful country in the World Cup history.

Most South American teams share a similar story.

So, there is the proof that you don't need money to be the best in football

I am not sure about this. Brazil is a relatively prosperous nation, at least when compared to Asian and African nations. But it is true that there are quite a few informal settlements in Brazil (known as Favelas, with a total population of close to 11-12 million spread across 6,000+ localities), where the living standards are too low. But these sort of ghettoes can be found even in developed nations such as the United States and France. That doesn't mean that those who live there face too many obstacles in developing their game.

What makes football in Brazil great even though it is categorized as a poor country is, they are poor economically but they are very advanced in football. I think it is not suitable when Brazil's poverty is used as a reference as a poor country that is advanced in football. You can see that clubs in Brazil's top league often win the Libertadores and are often finalists in the Club World Cup. This means they have everything in football. At least Brazil has many talent scouts from various clubs or even from Europe, unlike countries in Asia and Africa where it is very difficult to penetrate the national level due to the lack of football facilities in those countries.

Football is the most popular sport there, I have seen many videos circulating on social media showing almost every child already playing football there, not only on the field but also anywhere as long as they can play football. That's why there are many young talents who are very potential there, you could say they already have natural talent with their environmental habits. And they hone it by joining a soccer school or something like that, which makes their talents will be channeled properly.
They are indeed many who are born with talent and it is a very potential young seed that is in Brazil.

In Brazil you can find many people with high talents they can have good performance in the next years when they get older but the problem with these people is they don't have good coaches to guide them. That's how Brazil loses talent they have because of the weak management they have, while other countries and especially the European countries will try to develop all the talent they have.
That's how Brazil is losing its power in the world.

[romero121]

~
In Brazil you can find many people with high talents they can have good performance in the next years when they get older but the problem with these people is they don't have good coaches to guide them. That's how Brazil loses talent they have because of the weak management they have, while other countries and especially the European countries will try to develop all the talent they have.
That's how Brazil is losing its power in the world.

There is big number of soccer talents all over the country. However limited players gets opportunity and the same is being utilised as a way to make money. In the name of getting opportunity to play different leagues people were bribed. This is commonly found everywhere and in larger extent the corruption throughout the country is another reason why the real talents gets hidden. The government is working with anti-corruption agencies ana all, however to get effective outcome is simply hard. When there is no corruption people will get proper coach and other support from the government to keep their talents growing.

[Jody.Drummer]

Football is the most popular sport there, I have seen many videos circulating on social media showing almost every child already playing football there, not only on the field but also anywhere as long as they can play football. That's why there are many young talents who are very potential there, you could say they already have natural talent with their environmental habits. And they hone it by joining a soccer school or something like that, which makes their talents will be channeled properly.
They are indeed many who are born with talent and it is a very potential young seed that is in Brazil.

In Brazil you can find many people with high talents they can have good performance in the next years when they get older but the problem with these people is they don't have good coaches to guide them. That's how Brazil loses talent they have because of the weak management they have, while other countries and especially the European countries will try to develop all the talent they have.
That's how Brazil is losing its power in the world.

Brazil must start paying more attention to their young talents, because there are many children born with great talent in the world of football. I'm sure if they can focus more on that, then they will again become a very feared country. Now they are also a country that is considered a lot, but lately they are declining.
It's unfortunate when they have high potential but can't utilize it very well, it's the same as throwing away the assets they have. Not many countries have the potential that they have in football.

[Slow death]

I keep hearing that this or that country is not great in football because they don't have enough money.

In reality, there are examples of countries that are great in football and are very poor, Brazil being the most extreme case. Many of the players in Brazil grew up playing football without shoes, and even without food some days. Still, Brazil is the most successful country in the World Cup history.

Most South American teams share a similar story.

So, there is the proof that you don't need money to be the best in football

I am not sure about this. Brazil is a relatively prosperous nation, at least when compared to Asian and African nations. But it is true that there are quite a few informal settlements in Brazil (known as Favelas, with a total population of close to 11-12 million spread across 6,000+ localities), where the living standards are too low. But these sort of ghettoes can be found even in developed nations such as the United States and France. That doesn't mean that those who live there face too many obstacles in developing their game.

What makes football in Brazil great even though it is categorized as a poor country is, they are poor economically but they are very advanced in football. I think it is not suitable when Brazil's poverty is used as a reference as a poor country that is advanced in football. You can see that clubs in Brazil's top league often win the Libertadores and are often finalists in the Club World Cup. This means they have everything in football. At least Brazil has many talent scouts from various clubs or even from Europe, unlike countries in Asia and Africa where it is very difficult to penetrate the national level due to the lack of football facilities in those countries.

I once heard someone who said the following: when a person practices a certain thing a lot, that person achieves perfection. In Brazil people love football, even in places where there is no great luxury or conditions for playing football, people play football, this means that children start playing football from a very early age, which means that many people fill the stadiums football team to watch the games. The quality of league games is very good, reaching the point where even at the lowest levels there is a very good level of talent. This doesn't happen in the USA for example, how many neighborhoods and streets do we see children constantly playing football in the United States?

There are few places in the USA where you will see children playing, young people playing football, but when you look at basketball, then the situation is different, you will see someone playing basketball in every neighborhood. At most, I saw that there is a lot of football played in some neighborhoods, but I didn't have the opportunity to see if at all levels of football the stadiums have a lot of people, the same goes for Canada. but when we look at England, Germany, Italy, France we will see that when a small team plays and even if it is a team from the lowest bracket, there are people watching and the level of quality of play is very good.

When a government pays attention to sport, then sport will evolve a lot, but this same government must not put politics in sport, let the private sector take care of sport. Sport is a business in today's world and in that market and they need to have freedom. in Africa and even in South America, many governments control sport a lot and put politics in football to the point that club leaders have to be people from the political party that governs the country and in this way the leagues do not have attention and are without quality

[Sithara007]

Brazil must start paying more attention to their young talents, because there are many children born with great talent in the world of football. I'm sure if they can focus more on that, then they will again become a very feared country. Now they are also a country that is considered a lot, but lately they are declining. It's unfortunate when they have high potential but can't utilize it very well, it's the same as throwing away the assets they have. Not many countries have the potential that they have in football.

It's not like Brazil is declining. The reason why you see Brazil not winning a lot of the tournaments is that the other countries have managed to catch up with them. Hundreds, if not thousands of Brazilian players participate in various football leagues around the world. In due course of time, the players from other countries also learn skills from them. On top of that, a number of Brazilian players have also got naturalized as citizens of other countries and now represent them in international tournaments. And it is not just due to lack of funds, but also due to lack of opportunities back at home. 

[Silberman]

Brazil must start paying more attention to their young talents, because there are many children born with great talent in the world of football. I'm sure if they can focus more on that, then they will again become a very feared country. Now they are also a country that is considered a lot, but lately they are declining. It's unfortunate when they have high potential but can't utilize it very well, it's the same as throwing away the assets they have. Not many countries have the potential that they have in football.

It's not like Brazil is declining. The reason why you see Brazil not winning a lot of the tournaments is that the other countries have managed to catch up with them. Hundreds, if not thousands of Brazilian players participate in various football leagues around the world. In due course of time, the players from other countries also learn skills from them. On top of that, a number of Brazilian players have also got naturalized as citizens of other countries and now represent them in international tournaments. And it is not just due to lack of funds, but also due to lack of opportunities back at home. 

Correct, it is not as if the ceiling is going down what is happening is that the floor is going up, so in the past Brazil could destroy all other teams except those which were at the top with them as their level was too low, however with an improvement of training techniques and copying the techniques of the strongest nations around the world the other countries are catching up, however Brazil still is at the top simply because of their long tradition as a powerful soccer team.

[nullama]

~snip~
I am not sure about this. Brazil is a relatively prosperous nation, at least when compared to Asian and African nations. But it is true that there are quite a few informal settlements in Brazil (known as Favelas, with a total population of close to 11-12 million spread across 6,000+ localities), where the living standards are too low. But these sort of ghettoes can be found even in developed nations such as the United States and France. That doesn't mean that those who live there face too many obstacles in developing their game.

You can read the bio of many Brazilian players and they will say that they were growing in one of those favelas, that they did not have shoes or food, and they were playing football all day by kicking a ball of paper, etc.

That is very common in Brazil, and to a lesser extent, South America.

These kids grew up playing with the absolute minimum, just a ball made of paper or trash, and ended up being the best in the world.

Rivaldo for example has issues with malnutrition when he was a kid.

[Sithara007]

You can read the bio of many Brazilian players and they will say that they were growing in one of those favelas, that they did not have shoes or food, and they were playing football all day by kicking a ball of paper, etc.

That is very common in Brazil, and to a lesser extent, South America.

These kids grew up playing with the absolute minimum, just a ball made of paper or trash, and ended up being the best in the world.

Rivaldo for example has issues with malnutrition when he was a kid.

Well.. a lot of footballers around the world originally were born and brought up in informal settlements. And this is true in case of Brazil as well. Favelas contribute to 4-5% of the population, but half of their footballers come from these type of settlements. Even in European countries that is the case. Look at the French team. A number of players, such as Frank Ribery and Raphael Varane were born in informal settlements. Even in Argentina, star players such as Diego Maradona and Angel Di Maria also hails from such settlements.

[Btc_1856]

~snip~
I am not sure about this. Brazil is a relatively prosperous nation, at least when compared to Asian and African nations. But it is true that there are quite a few informal settlements in Brazil (known as Favelas, with a total population of close to 11-12 million spread across 6,000+ localities), where the living standards are too low. But these sort of ghettoes can be found even in developed nations such as the United States and France. That doesn't mean that those who live there face too many obstacles in developing their game.

You can read the bio of many Brazilian players and they will say that they were growing in one of those favelas, that they did not have shoes or food, and they were playing football all day by kicking a ball of paper, etc.

That is very common in Brazil, and to a lesser extent, South America.

These kids grew up playing with the absolute minimum, just a ball made of paper or trash, and ended up being the best in the world.

Rivaldo for example has issues with malnutrition when he was a kid.

Brazilian children suffer a lot. They wish they had health care and education welfare systems like those in European countries. For many boys in this South American country with a massive gap between rich and poor, football is still the fastest way out of poverty. Poverty has played a role in promoting football culture in Brazil. Stars Pelé, Neymar, Ronaldo... are still an endless source of inspiration for the boys of samba.
Currently, thanks to the government's economic promotion policies it has also had a particular impact on football. They produce less talent on the field, which is a positive sign for the lives of more Brazilian children, and children no longer need to try to escape poverty through football.

[Lucasgabd]

What is wrong with co-hosting such world events? I am not much experienced with football, but ice hockey experience was great. Not a single nation got a free qualification spot in tournament, because they co-host an event. For fans, I see only benefits from such system. For countries - tourists are always a plus into budget. Hosting or co-hosting was always a matter of money. Tournaments are not co-hosted because some have better or worse stadium, or low number of stadiums for example. This happens because countries make huge payments to FIFA imo, in a matter of trading hosting spots.

Once again, there is nothing wrong with co-hosting. My problem is not with co-hosting as such, but with providing automatic entry to the teams that co-host the tournament. IMO, automatic entry should be given only to two teams - defending champions and one team from the hosts. If there are multiple hosts, then the weaker teams should be asked to participate in the qualifier tournament. I understand the budget concerns. In some cases, a country may not have enough quality stadiums and all. But that is an entirely different topic from giving automatic entry.

Imagine the following: you have your house and your friend has his house, so you tell your friend that you are going to his house to play video games, when you arrive at your friend's house you don't find your friend who is the owner of the house. home, but you meet other people who you have arranged with them to go play too, so I believe it will be a very strange situation. the same thing happens in soccer, when a country organizes the world cup they don't earn a lot of money in terms of profits, I don't even know if it really makes a profit, but the point is that the people of that country will be able to be happy to see their team national team to play in the world cup, even if they know that their national team won't get far

the politicians and the government of that country that organizes the world cup will have reason to justify the citizen's tax money as it was spent on the cup, argument of the government and politicians and that with that organization of the cup the national team managed to make history by reaching the cup , and people would not like to see the government spending money to organize a world cup in which their national team will not participate, I think that FIFA is right on that part.

all countries that ceded the world cup must have automatic passage for their main team, this is also a great incentive for many countries to want to organize the world cup, if one day they change this rule, then many countries will lose motivation to want to cede the world Cup

there's even more
what is one of the most common ways for corrupt politicians to make some bank?
with lobby, receiving payments for approving proposals, also a lot of corruptions in overpricing construction works.

Take Brazil as an example, the 2 mega-events (soccer world cup and the olympics) ended up making more bad than good for the country because all this money could be invested in better structure and education instead of stadiums and all.

[Sithara007]

There are some concerns being raised about the weather conditions, which may prevail during the world cup in 2026.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fifa-2026-worldcup-climate-lineker-31031557

All three host nations (Canada, USA and Mexico) have been devastated recently by extreme heat waves and wildfires. And the tournament is scheduled to take place during the peak summer season. Combined with extreme distances between different venues, weather is sure to create a lot of difficulties for the fans, as well as for the players. Gary Lineker and David Wheeler have already spoken against the huge carbon footprint that may result from this tournament.

[Leviathan.007]

~snip~
I am not sure about this. Brazil is a relatively prosperous nation, at least when compared to Asian and African nations. But it is true that there are quite a few informal settlements in Brazil (known as Favelas, with a total population of close to 11-12 million spread across 6,000+ localities), where the living standards are too low. But these sort of ghettoes can be found even in developed nations such as the United States and France. That doesn't mean that those who live there face too many obstacles in developing their game.

You can read the bio of many Brazilian players and they will say that they were growing in one of those favelas, that they did not have shoes or food, and they were playing football all day by kicking a ball of paper, etc.

That is very common in Brazil, and to a lesser extent, South America.

These kids grew up playing with the absolute minimum, just a ball made of paper or trash, and ended up being the best in the world.

Rivaldo for example has issues with malnutrition when he was a kid.

Brazilian children suffer a lot. They wish they had health care and education welfare systems like those in European countries. For many boys in this South American country with a massive gap between rich and poor, football is still the fastest way out of poverty. Poverty has played a role in promoting football culture in Brazil. Stars Pelé, Neymar, Ronaldo... are still an endless source of inspiration for the boys of samba.
Currently, thanks to the government's economic promotion policies it has also had a particular impact on football. They produce less talent on the field, which is a positive sign for the lives of more Brazilian children, and children no longer need to try to escape poverty through football.

That's why years ago people were saying football was a sport suitable even for poor people because they could use any random object in the street and play football with it, that's why Brazil was amazing in the past, even many famous players there were not rich for example Rivaldo was not rich and he lost his father when he was a child but he was also a famous superstar player.
But this is not working anymore with the current system in the world and they need to get developed

[Sithara007]

That's why years ago people were saying football was a sport suitable even for poor people because they could use any random object in the street and play football with it, that's why Brazil was amazing in the past, even many famous players there were not rich for example Rivaldo was not rich and he lost his father when he was a child but he was also a famous superstar player.
But this is not working anymore with the current system in the world and they need to get developed

Brazilian players used to have a unique set of skills. They are quite good with Scissor Kick and all. But as Brazilian players and coaches moved out of that country for monetary reasons, these skills were acquired by players from other countries as well. Brazilian players still have the advantage, because they start playing from a very young age and the quality of local games is very high. The same can't be said about European or North American countries. But I can clearly see that the gap is narrowing with each passing year.

[Rampagoe004]

Correct, it is not as if the ceiling is going down what is happening is that the floor is going up, so in the past Brazil could destroy all other teams except those which were at the top with them as their level was too low, however with an improvement of training techniques and copying the techniques of the strongest nations around the world the other countries are catching up, however Brazil still is at the top simply because of their long tradition as a powerful soccer team.

This could also happen because Brazil already has many world-class stars and players in its country. That's what makes children in Brazil dream of becoming great footballers. They can idolize players from their own country. And because these great players also come from Favella, it is a motivation for other children. Second, Brazil and football are like one unit. Just like the US with basketball. In Brazil, limited space and economic conditions make football the only sport that can be played by everyone.