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

[W Jr.]

It will be the world cup with significant changes. More teams participating means a more exciting tournament. In addition, the duration of the tournament will naturally be extended. I'm sure it will be more enjoyable when you think about it from this angle. It may become more enjoyable if surprise results such as the 2022 World Cup are obtained. I am already looking forward to the tournament in 4 years.

You mean it will be more enjoyable? Do you mean we are not contented with the ones we had been watching?
Just imagine the stress you will have to face when you need to go to different countries just to watch the world cup live in the stadium. This is not an enjoyment for me but a big stress to fans having to move from the current country where they had been watch the world cup match then moving to a new country to continue there football adventure. It really not nice and this looks like the first time we are seeing this kind of multiple countries hosting the world cup.

The majority of matches will be played in the USA. I know Mexico and Canada will host very few games. I don't know if such an application has been made in the world cups before, but such applications have been made in the European cups. It can be tiring for the fans, of course, but it can also be enjoyable. Different countries, different cultures and different places to visit can be seen.

[Silence Scream]

^^^ One thing that I liked about Qatar 2022 is that it was quite easy for the fans to travel from one location to the other. Qatar also has a relaxed visa regimen, which helped a lot of football fans. On the other hand, getting a US visa is a really tough job and I just hope that the government would relax the requirements for global fans. Also, staging in three different countries, which are thousands of kilometers apart sounds like a bad idea for me. Given the extended duration for the next edition, it will only result in fatigue and exhaustion for the fans.

I think the USA will do some work on the World Cup.  In addition, there may be a lot of people who want to go to the world cup as fans and stay in the USA, they can make changes in visa conditions to prevent them.  I observed Qatar as a good host.  The stadiums were very good, the matches were really exciting.  Moreover, Messi is the champion, what more could I ask for.

[nullama]

~snip~
The majority of matches will be played in the USA. I know Mexico and Canada will host very few games. I don't know if such an application has been made in the world cups before, but such applications have been made in the European cups. It can be tiring for the fans, of course, but it can also be enjoyable. Different countries, different cultures and different places to visit can be seen.

Yeah, Korea-Japan 2002.

It can be tiring for the fans, but also it increases the price of the stay. You would need to buy 2 extra international flights, on top of the one from wherever you live to the world cup.

That's quite a lot really. Plus you need to secure the visas for 3 countries instead of just 1.

[W Jr.]

~snip~
The majority of matches will be played in the USA. I know Mexico and Canada will host very few games. I don't know if such an application has been made in the world cups before, but such applications have been made in the European cups. It can be tiring for the fans, of course, but it can also be enjoyable. Different countries, different cultures and different places to visit can be seen.

Yeah, Korea-Japan 2002.

It can be tiring for the fans, but also it increases the price of the stay. You would need to buy 2 extra international flights, on top of the one from wherever you live to the world cup.

That's quite a lot really. Plus you need to secure the visas for 3 countries instead of just 1.

Packages will definitely be created for these and sales will be made in packages. I think Fifa has definitely worked on this issue. Even though Fifa doesn't, the host countries should adjust it. Matches can be played in cities that are close to each other, or group matches can be played in one country. All of the teams that make the rounds in the group matches can be gathered in one country. This could be the USA. Thus, a 2 country visa may be sufficient. There will definitely be a fix for this issue.

[Sithara007]

Packages will definitely be created for these and sales will be made in packages. I think Fifa has definitely worked on this issue. Even though Fifa doesn't, the host countries should adjust it. Matches can be played in cities that are close to each other, or group matches can be played in one country. All of the teams that make the rounds in the group matches can be gathered in one country. This could be the USA. Thus, a 2 country visa may be sufficient. There will definitely be a fix for this issue.

If the FIFA has a simple system in place, then it will be good. What I don't want is fans getting their travel plans cancelled at the last minute, because the American embassy will not issue them a tourist visa. I know how hard it is to get a tourist visa for the United States, and I have seen multiple occasions of visa applications getting rejected after many months of waiting. I don't know much about the visa requirements for Canada and Mexico, but I guess the situation is much better that what they have in the United States.

[slackovic]

Packages will definitely be created for these and sales will be made in packages. I think Fifa has definitely worked on this issue. Even though Fifa doesn't, the host countries should adjust it. Matches can be played in cities that are close to each other, or group matches can be played in one country. All of the teams that make the rounds in the group matches can be gathered in one country. This could be the USA. Thus, a 2 country visa may be sufficient. There will definitely be a fix for this issue.

If the FIFA has a simple system in place, then it will be good. What I don't want is fans getting their travel plans cancelled at the last minute, because the American embassy will not issue them a tourist visa. I know how hard it is to get a tourist visa for the United States, and I have seen multiple occasions of visa applications getting rejected after many months of waiting. I don't know much about the visa requirements for Canada and Mexico, but I guess the situation is much better that what they have in the United States.

The USA visa problem is well known and I'm sure FIFA is well aware of that. I don't know how will they work it out but it's definitely unacceptable that someone has to wait visa for several months and then purchase a ticket for the World Cup.

[Tipeform$]

~snip~
The majority of matches will be played in the USA. I know Mexico and Canada will host very few games. I don't know if such an application has been made in the world cups before, but such applications have been made in the European cups. It can be tiring for the fans, of course, but it can also be enjoyable. Different countries, different cultures and different places to visit can be seen.

Yeah, Korea-Japan 2002.

It can be tiring for the fans, but also it increases the price of the stay. You would need to buy 2 extra international flights, on top of the one from wherever you live to the world cup.

That's quite a lot really. Plus you need to secure the visas for 3 countries instead of just 1.

Yes, Only Japan and Korea are the two countries with the most problems and soccer lovers in all countries.  And if the World Cup is held in the United States, there will be various problems.  Visa will be the biggest problem and entry will have to follow the law.  However, flights to the US must be purchased separately.

[Juggy777]

Packages will definitely be created for these and sales will be made in packages. I think Fifa has definitely worked on this issue. Even though Fifa doesn't, the host countries should adjust it. Matches can be played in cities that are close to each other, or group matches can be played in one country. All of the teams that make the rounds in the group matches can be gathered in one country. This could be the USA. Thus, a 2 country visa may be sufficient. There will definitely be a fix for this issue.

If the FIFA has a simple system in place, then it will be good. What I don't want is fans getting their travel plans cancelled at the last minute, because the American embassy will not issue them a tourist visa. I know how hard it is to get a tourist visa for the United States, and I have seen multiple occasions of visa applications getting rejected after many months of waiting. I don't know much about the visa requirements for Canada and Mexico, but I guess the situation is much better that what they have in the United States.

The USA visa problem is well known and I'm sure FIFA is well aware of that. I don't know how will they work it out but it's definitely unacceptable that someone has to wait visa for several months and then purchase a ticket for the World Cup.

@W Jr the wait for an USA visa is only getting longer, and I expect many will miss out on watching this World Cup live because they’ll not get their USA visa’s issued in time. Also I doubt that FIFA will be able to do much as issuing visa is not something that they can interfere with, hence the only logical way is to apply for the USA visa at least 1 year in advance otherwise getting it in time will be really difficult.

[rdluffy]

If the FIFA has a simple system in place, then it will be good. What I don't want is fans getting their travel plans cancelled at the last minute, because the American embassy will not issue them a tourist visa. I know how hard it is to get a tourist visa for the United States, and I have seen multiple occasions of visa applications getting rejected after many months of waiting. I don't know much about the visa requirements for Canada and Mexico, but I guess the situation is much better that what they have in the United States.

AFAIK you can enter in Mexico and Canada with a valid US visa, at least for my country, this is the rule, you don't need separate visa, so the fans will probably have to get the US visa only.
I don't know if this rule will remain until 2026, but I'm sure they talk about visa when US submitted the application to FIFA.
If you want my opinion, I think fans will not have problems to visit US to watch the games, the World Cup will be a good reason to any fan ask for a visa, and if you match the criteria that US asks, you'll be fine.

And the recommendation of US is always buy the flight after the visa, never before the application.


I see everyone is anxious to 2026 haha, maybe in a few days this thread will get to 2nd or 3rd page but soon the Qualifies will start  

[Sithara007]

I see everyone is anxious to 2026 haha, maybe in a few days this thread will get to 2nd or 3rd page but soon the Qualifies will start  

This time the qualifying tournament is going to be much more exciting, especially with the AFC, CAF and OFC confederations. The reason is that for the 2026 world cup there will be more slots from these regions. For example, for Asia there will be 8.33 slots in 2026 instead of 4.5 in 2022. And this means that some of the good teams that previously failed to qualify for the main tournament, such as Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates have good chances to do so this time. The same can be said about the CAF and OFC qualifiers as well.

[swogerino]

I see everyone is anxious to 2026 haha, maybe in a few days this thread will get to 2nd or 3rd page but soon the Qualifies will start  

This time the qualifying tournament is going to be much more exciting, especially with the AFC, CAF and OFC confederations. The reason is that for the 2026 world cup there will be more slots from these regions. For example, for Asia there will be 8.33 slots in 2026 instead of 4.5 in 2022. And this means that some of the good teams that previously failed to qualify for the main tournament, such as Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates have good chances to do so this time. The same can be said about the CAF and OFC qualifiers as well.

The more teams the better in terms of global football advertising but I ask about the quality of the teams that will be added because of the more slots,most likely if they were as of good quality as they claim they should have qualified in the 2022 cup and had no trouble to do so.Apparently though FIFA knows that they are not as good as they claim and such FIFA added the number of teams participating in the 2026 cup in order to be more inclusive and to make more people and countries happy.I agree with FIFA but I do not expect any good performance from the new teams that will perform in the 2026 cup.

[Daniel91]

I see everyone is anxious to 2026 haha, maybe in a few days this thread will get to 2nd or 3rd page but soon the Qualifies will start  

This time the qualifying tournament is going to be much more exciting, especially with the AFC, CAF and OFC confederations. The reason is that for the 2026 world cup there will be more slots from these regions. For example, for Asia there will be 8.33 slots in 2026 instead of 4.5 in 2022. And this means that some of the good teams that previously failed to qualify for the main tournament, such as Uzbekistan and United Arab Emirates have good chances to do so this time. The same can be said about the CAF and OFC qualifiers as well.

The more teams the better in terms of global football advertising but I ask about the quality of the teams that will be added because of the more slots,most likely if they were as of good quality as they claim they should have qualified in the 2022 cup and had no trouble to do so.Apparently though FIFA knows that they are not as good as they claim and such FIFA added the number of teams participating in the 2026 cup in order to be more inclusive and to make more people and countries happy.I agree with FIFA but I do not expect any good performance from the new teams that will perform in the 2026 cup.

New teams only mean quantity, but unfortunately not quality.
It all boils down to politics and making money, which is what FIFA is best at, and all of that has nothing to do with football.
FIFA should have given more places to Europe and less to Asia, Africa and North America, but apparently the top of FIFA is preparing for new elections and counting on the votes of delegates from those continents.
So, in the next World Cup in 2026, we will have more national teams and more matches, which will increase FIFA's earnings, but the quality of the competition will decrease because we will see more boring matches between weaker teams.

[Sithara007]

The more teams the better in terms of global football advertising but I ask about the quality of the teams that will be added because of the more slots,most likely if they were as of good quality as they claim they should have qualified in the 2022 cup and had no trouble to do so.Apparently though FIFA knows that they are not as good as they claim and such FIFA added the number of teams participating in the 2026 cup in order to be more inclusive and to make more people and countries happy.I agree with FIFA but I do not expect any good performance from the new teams that will perform in the 2026 cup.

I have already answered about this in one of the other threads. The most one-sided match in FIFA 2022 was between Portugal and Switzerland. We are talking about two teams, who would have qualified even if the number of teams are reduced. On the other hand, lowest ranked teams such as Morocco, Cameroon and Australia all performed credible during the tournament. I am in full support for the expansion by FIFA to 48 teams. It will maintain the quality and make sure that there is representation from all around the globe.

[rdluffy]

New teams only mean quantity, but unfortunately not quality.
It all boils down to politics and making money, which is what FIFA is best at, and all of that has nothing to do with football.
FIFA should have given more places to Europe and less to Asia, Africa and North America, but apparently the top of FIFA is preparing for new elections and counting on the votes of delegates from those continents.
So, in the next World Cup in 2026, we will have more national teams and more matches, which will increase FIFA's earnings, but the quality of the competition will decrease because we will see more boring matches between weaker teams.

I agree with you that FIFA is more about politics and money than football, but I disagree with more spots to Europe.

This is the spots for 2022:

AFC - 6
CONCACAF - 4
UEFA - 13
CAF - 5
CONMEBOL - 4
OFC - 0

For 2026:

AFC - 8
CONCACAF - 6
UEFA - 16
CAF - 9
CONMEBOL - 6
OFC - 1

In my opinion, more spots to places like Africa and Oceania will really help to spread football to more places than giving only to Europe or South America for example.
And a World Cup is a tournament to help spread football to the whole planet.

In your opinion, how many spots Europe deserves to 2026?

[BobK71]

^^^ One thing that I liked about Qatar 2022 is that it was quite easy for the fans to travel from one location to the other. Qatar also has a relaxed visa regimen, which helped a lot of football fans. On the other hand, getting a US visa is a really tough job and I just hope that the government would relax the requirements for global fans. Also, staging in three different countries, which are thousands of kilometers apart sounds like a bad idea for me. Given the extended duration for the next edition, it will only result in fatigue and exhaustion for the fans.

I think the USA will do some work on the World Cup.  In addition, there may be a lot of people who want to go to the world cup as fans and stay in the USA, they can make changes in visa conditions to prevent them.  I observed Qatar as a good host.  The stadiums were very good, the matches were really exciting.  Moreover, Messi is the champion, what more could I ask for.

They will take a final decision on this before the start of the 2026 World Cup. In particular, those who are from the 3rd world countries will be somewhat more restrictive. I believe that if anyone can collect tickets then he can go. But this situation was completely different for Qatar. Nobody in the third world wanted to go there. But it is true that among all the World Cups, Qatar World Cup was a remarkable event.

[og kush420]

^^^ One thing that I liked about Qatar 2022 is that it was quite easy for the fans to travel from one location to the other. Qatar also has a relaxed visa regimen, which helped a lot of football fans. On the other hand, getting a US visa is a really tough job and I just hope that the government would relax the requirements for global fans. Also, staging in three different countries, which are thousands of kilometers apart sounds like a bad idea for me. Given the extended duration for the next edition, it will only result in fatigue and exhaustion for the fans.

I think the USA will do some work on the World Cup.  In addition, there may be a lot of people who want to go to the world cup as fans and stay in the USA, they can make changes in visa conditions to prevent them.  I observed Qatar as a good host.  The stadiums were very good, the matches were really exciting.  Moreover, Messi is the champion, what more could I ask for.

They will take a final decision on this before the start of the 2026 World Cup. In particular, those who are from the 3rd world countries will be somewhat more restrictive. I believe that if anyone can collect tickets then he can go. But this situation was completely different for Qatar. Nobody in the third world wanted to go there. But it is true that among all the World Cups, Qatar World Cup was a remarkable event.

People will be planning to move to USA in 2026 and they won't come back that is for sure. I am sure many people will escape in America and Canada.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

^^^ One thing that I liked about Qatar 2022 is that it was quite easy for the fans to travel from one location to the other. Qatar also has a relaxed visa regimen, which helped a lot of football fans. On the other hand, getting a US visa is a really tough job and I just hope that the government would relax the requirements for global fans. Also, staging in three different countries, which are thousands of kilometers apart sounds like a bad idea for me. Given the extended duration for the next edition, it will only result in fatigue and exhaustion for the fans.

I think the USA will do some work on the World Cup.  In addition, there may be a lot of people who want to go to the world cup as fans and stay in the USA, they can make changes in visa conditions to prevent them.  I observed Qatar as a good host.  The stadiums were very good, the matches were really exciting.  Moreover, Messi is the champion, what more could I ask for.

They will take a final decision on this before the start of the 2026 World Cup. In particular, those who are from the 3rd world countries will be somewhat more restrictive. I believe that if anyone can collect tickets then he can go. But this situation was completely different for Qatar. Nobody in the third world wanted to go there. But it is true that among all the World Cups, Qatar World Cup was a remarkable event.

LOL, this relate to a slight argument I had with some group of friends some days back, they were saying that 2026 world cup would be an opportunity for many that have been planning to leave their country for a greener pasture, and i was telling them that traveling to the USA for the sake of the world cup still wont be easy, i agree that visa might be made more restrictive to try to deter or change the mind of the majority of people from traveling, as personally, i think if all should be allowed to travel easy to watch the 2026 world cup tournament, majority will not return to their respective countries anymore, most especially, citizens from the third world countries .

[noormcs5]

It will be the world cup with significant changes. More teams participating means a more exciting tournament. In addition, the duration of the tournament will naturally be extended. I'm sure it will be more enjoyable when you think about it from this angle. It may become more enjoyable if surprise results such as the 2022 World Cup are obtained. I am already looking forward to the tournament in 4 years.

You mean it will be more enjoyable? Do you mean we are not contented with the ones we had been watching?
Just imagine the stress you will have to face when you need to go to different countries just to watch the world cup live in the stadium. This is not an enjoyment for me but a big stress to fans having to move from the current country where they had been watch the world cup match then moving to a new country to continue there football adventure. It really not nice and this looks like the first time we are seeing this kind of multiple countries hosting the world cup.

The majority of matches will be played in the USA. I know Mexico and Canada will host very few games. I don't know if such an application has been made in the world cups before, but such applications have been made in the European cups. It can be tiring for the fans, of course, but it can also be enjoyable. Different countries, different cultures and different places to visit can be seen.

Another thing to note is that the fifa world cup comes after every four years and this means that not many countries will get a chance to host the world cup. If you ask me, Canada and Mexico may never get a chance to independently host the FIFA world cup. But with this joint world cup hosting, the nations of both Canada and Mexico should be proud to a part of hosting the fifa world cup 2026.

[Sithara007]

People will be planning to move to USA in 2026 and they won't come back that is for sure. I am sure many people will escape in America and Canada.

If people can afford flight tickets to the USA and packages to watch the world cup matches, then for sure they can afford regular visa to the US as well. But the problem is that the immigration system is completely broken out there. Millions of illegal immigrants in their caravans can cross the border without any issue, but those who apply legally need to wait for many years before they get a chance of visa hearing (especially those from India and China). Already there are close to 12 million illegals (politically correct terms is "unauthorized immigrants" or "undocumented immigrants") residing in the United States and any addition to this number will be like a drop in the bucket.

[Hispo]

-snip-

-snip-

People who move to the United States illegally as refugees do it because they are seeking for a better life, keeping that in mind, I agree with you.
Most of the Mexican and South Americans that will go the USA because the World Cup will be people with money without need to move out desperation, most of them will go back to their respective countries after the football party.

The border is crossed irregularly everyday and most people won't wait for World Cup to do so.