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

[alegotardo]

The 2022 World Cup will always remain as a dark spot in the history of FIFA. Qatar, despite splashing $300 billion to showoff their wealth, refused to compensate the 6,000+ migrant workers who died during the construction of the stadiums. And FIFA also didn't uttered a word about this issue. Children of these migrant workers are still starving to death in Nepal and Bangladesh, while FIFA is making big projections of $11 billion revenue for the next edition of the world cup. I agree with the point that there are enough large stadiums in all the three countries who are the hosts. But extensive renovations maybe required, to modify them as per FIFA standards.

I've been researching worker death statistics on the world's biggest buildings and it seems to me that this is worse than we thought...

The numbers I present below is an estimate made by the DAM Firm website that reveals a frightening ratio of the number of people who died while building bridges, buildings, canals, railways and other symbols of modern life.
The scale represents the number of people killed per thousand employees who worked in them.

• Panama Canal: for every thousand workers involved, 408.12 died;
• Burma Railway: known as the “Death Railway”, the construction was responsible for the death of 385.45 workers per thousand hired;
• Hawks Nest Tunnel: 152.8;
• White Sea-Baltic Canal: 95.24;
• Transcontinental Railroad: 80;
• Suez Canal: 80;
• Karakorum Road: 54.17;
• Brooklyn Bridge: 50;
• Erie Canal: 20;
• World Trade Center: 17.14;
• Aswan Dam: 16.67;
• Los Angeles Aqueduct: 10.75;
• Grand Coulee Dam: 8.75;
• Sydney Harbor Bridge: 6.4;
• Hoover Dam: 4.57;
• San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge: 3.37;
• Eiffel Tower: 3.33;
• Gotthard Base Tunnel: 3.2;
• World Cup in Qatar: 2.86;
• Titanic: 2.67;
• Willis Tower: 2.5;
• Taipei 101: 2.5;
• Empire State Building: 1.47;
• Mackinac Bridge: 1.43;
• Fort Peck Dam: 1.2;
• Transportation-Alaska Plumbing System: 1.17.

[Sithara007]

^^^^ First of all, the above numbers are wrong. They underestimate the deaths by 100x. According to the Qatar government, only a few dozen workers died during the construction of stadiums, although the original number is at least 6,000. And secondly you are comparing the death toll with that from projects such as Panama Canal and Suez Canal, which were constructed at least a century ago (when life expectancy was like 25 years).

[romero121]

Yes, the 16 stadiums that the teams will use during the world cup games are already ready, nothing will need to be built from scratch, just some reforms, improvements and expansions will be necessary.
Why that? Because these three countries actually play football outside the world cup.
Qatar, on the other hand, never had a Football tradition, they should never have hosted a FIFA World Cup, all they have is money to rub on the world and buy whatever they want, including the lives of workers that were lost for there just to satisfy the greed of rich people.

I hope that in the 2026 World Cup, human values will be more valued, above any money the world can buy.

The 2022 World Cup will always remain as a dark spot in the history of FIFA. Qatar, despite splashing $300 billion to showoff their wealth, refused to compensate the 6,000+ migrant workers who died during the construction of the stadiums. And FIFA also didn't uttered a word about this issue. Children of these migrant workers are still starving to death in Nepal and Bangladesh, while FIFA is making big projections of $11 billion revenue for the next edition of the world cup. I agree with the point that there are enough large stadiums in all the three countries who are the hosts. But extensive renovations maybe required, to modify them as per FIFA standards.

In all means human lives need to be valued higher than anything. With the power of money Qatar hide everything from the outer world. This time such scenario won't happen as the nations have got good number of stadiums. Since 2010 (once after receiving the hosting rights) Qatar started to construct new stadiums and the result is the big celebration during the last year. Several organisations tried their best to raise voice, but nothing happened. Everything done with better planning stating majority of the death as natural death.
The Guardian

[Sithara007]

^^^^ LOL.. this "natural death" argument sounds funny. The vast majority of the migrant workers are in their 20s, and most of the rest are in their teens or in 30s. How can they explain so many "natural deaths" in this age group? Irrespective of whether it is "natural death" or not, in other parts of the world the employers do compensate the families of dead workers. But in case of Qatar, none of the dependents of the dead workers received a penny in compensation. Those who suffered work related injuries also went without compensation.

[romero121]

^^^^ LOL.. this "natural death" argument sounds funny. The vast majority of the migrant workers are in their 20s, and most of the rest are in their teens or in 30s. How can they explain so many "natural deaths" in this age group? Irrespective of whether it is "natural death" or not, in other parts of the world the employers do compensate the families of dead workers. But in case of Qatar, none of the dependents of the dead workers received a penny in compensation. Those who suffered work related injuries also went without compensation.

Whole world knows about it. World Cup host Qatar under reporting the number of deaths, documentaries, sharing the life during the construction of the stadiums and many more have come through different sources. However the human rights commission or any of the authority weren't able to take any action against the nation. Now everything is over and Qatar have gained the appreciation of hosting the FIFA as a grand celebration when people who worked for it weren't in the world and the families were in suffering to have single meal a day. As mentioned some statements out of Qatar authorities were really funny, but none were able to fight for the rights of the migrants who lost their lives.

[Leviathan.007]

The USA and Canada are among the best countries in the world... I think that neither the crisis nor anything else will prevent the World Cup from being held at the highest level... That's why I am sure the next World Cup will be much better and more interesting than the one in Qatar... By the way, the most negative factor of the previous World Cup for many football fans was probably the lack of alcoholic beer...

The most interesting thing about America and Canada is both countries are developed countries and compared to many other previous world cup hosts they are ready for the world cup they won't need to spend millions of dollars to build new stadiums or hotels, instead they need to repair all the stadiums they have. Also, Los angles and other places in America are very tourism friendly.

[Silberman]

Even if beer was banned from stadiums in Qatar what’s the big deal about that, before the World Cup we had some sort of ideas about the religious laws in the Middle East I don’t think it’s right forcing a country out of their own culture.

Regardless of all the critics Qatar raise the standards in World Cup hosting and I am not going to envy the next host of the World Cup because it would be hard to out do Qatar .

I also agree with what you said!
I believe that even before Qatar was chosen for the World Cup, FIFA teams and staff knew that, that country has different cultures, it is a very religious country, and have several strict rules.

Will we have any restrictions during the world cup games in 2026?

It is obvious that FIFA knew that as at the time FIFA was making a point of bring the world cup all over the world and the middle east was yet to hold one, which together with the bribes were the main reasons the Qatar candidacy won, however it is obvious alcohol was a point they touched and they had an agreement only for Qatar to change the rules at the last minute, however do not worry as I doubt there will be any restrictions like that on the upcoming world cup.

[mirakal]

Even if beer was banned from stadiums in Qatar what’s the big deal about that, before the World Cup we had some sort of ideas about the religious laws in the Middle East I don’t think it’s right forcing a country out of their own culture.

Regardless of all the critics Qatar raise the standards in World Cup hosting and I am not going to envy the next host of the World Cup because it would be hard to out do Qatar .

I also agree with what you said!
I believe that even before Qatar was chosen for the World Cup, FIFA teams and staff knew that, that country has different cultures, it is a very religious country, and have several strict rules.

Will we have any restrictions during the world cup games in 2026?

Yes and before the recent World Cup happened, the FIFA council made sure that everything they do, they will have a discussion with it or relay it to the organizers to make sure that whatever they are planning to do will not be against to the country's culture and beliefs because FIFA will certainly be under heavy criticisms once a single mistake will slide out. But this time, I bet the World Cup will be much looser because the countries in North America which will host the next WC are pretty much open to almost everything.

[darewaller]

The USA and Canada are among the best countries in the world... I think that neither the crisis nor anything else will prevent the World Cup from being held at the highest level... That's why I am sure the next World Cup will be much better and more interesting than the one in Qatar... By the way, the most negative factor of the previous World Cup for many football fans was probably the lack of alcoholic beer...

The most interesting thing about America and Canada is both countries are developed countries and compared to many other previous world cup hosts they are ready for the world cup they won't need to spend millions of dollars to build new stadiums or hotels, instead they need to repair all the stadiums they have. Also, Los angles and other places in America are very tourism friendly.

To be fair states did it in 94 too, so it is not really like an unlikely place for it to be, this time they added Canada and Mexico as well. Even though Mexico is a bit scary to some people because of cartels and all that, overall they are still a rich nation. All in all Russia was a nation with a lot of stadiums, Brazil is a world famous football nation, Germany is as well, maybe South Africa needed some help? I am not sure.

So all in all I could say that world cup has been in nations that had some football in it and stadiums as well. Obviously they all did some renovations and took extra care about some stuff like security probably, but aside from Qatar, I doubt anyone spent billions on it.

[Bushdark]

The USA and Canada are among the best countries in the world... I think that neither the crisis nor anything else will prevent the World Cup from being held at the highest level... That's why I am sure the next World Cup will be much better and more interesting than the one in Qatar... By the way, the most negative factor of the previous World Cup for many football fans was probably the lack of alcoholic beer...

LOL.. at least the fans will be able to get beer during the 2026 world cup. And you are not completely correct when you claim that beer was totally banned during Qatar 2022. Those who had the top tier tickets ($25,000 or so per ticket) had the luxury of enjoying beer while watching matches live. Only the ordinary fans with lower tier tickets were denied from enjoying alcoholic beverages and beer. In 2026, there will be all sort of beverages available to the fans. Each of the three countries have their own signature brands of lager beer and other alcoholic beverages.

This is the power of what beer cam give us when we are getting entertainment from what we like to see. In the just concluded world cup, there was a lot of restrictions by the officials against viewers and fans on some certain things they are not ought to do. I will not blame either any of the officials or the country herself because that is there doctrine and we as a fan have to abide by the country's law and enforcement. We all have to wait for the next world cup and see how it's going to play out. I hope the next world cup will be more competitive like the previous ones.

[keyscore44]

Even if beer was banned from stadiums in Qatar what’s the big deal about that, before the World Cup we had some sort of ideas about the religious laws in the Middle East I don’t think it’s right forcing a country out of their own culture.

Regardless of all the critics Qatar raise the standards in World Cup hosting and I am not going to envy the next host of the World Cup because it would be hard to out do Qatar .

I also agree with what you said!
I believe that even before Qatar was chosen for the World Cup, FIFA teams and staff knew that, that country has different cultures, it is a very religious country, and have several strict rules.

Will we have any restrictions during the world cup games in 2026?

Yes and before the recent World Cup happened, the FIFA council made sure that everything they do, they will have a discussion with it or relay it to the organizers to make sure that whatever they are planning to do will not be against to the country's culture and beliefs because FIFA will certainly be under heavy criticisms once a single mistake will slide out. But this time, I bet the World Cup will be much looser because the countries in North America which will host the next WC are pretty much open to almost everything.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar just ended with a bang. The organization of this World Cup has created a great stir all over the world. By doing this, FIFA has been able to match themselves in a great way. Hopefully FIFA will hold the next World Cup in a more extraordinary manner so that football fans are enthralled again.

[Daniel91]

Even if beer was banned from stadiums in Qatar what’s the big deal about that, before the World Cup we had some sort of ideas about the religious laws in the Middle East I don’t think it’s right forcing a country out of their own culture.

Regardless of all the critics Qatar raise the standards in World Cup hosting and I am not going to envy the next host of the World Cup because it would be hard to out do Qatar .

I also agree with what you said!
I believe that even before Qatar was chosen for the World Cup, FIFA teams and staff knew that, that country has different cultures, it is a very religious country, and have several strict rules.

Will we have any restrictions during the world cup games in 2026?

Yes and before the recent World Cup happened, the FIFA council made sure that everything they do, they will have a discussion with it or relay it to the organizers to make sure that whatever they are planning to do will not be against to the country's culture and beliefs because FIFA will certainly be under heavy criticisms once a single mistake will slide out. But this time, I bet the World Cup will be much looser because the countries in North America which will host the next WC are pretty much open to almost everything.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar just ended with a bang. The organization of this World Cup has created a great stir all over the world. By doing this, FIFA has been able to match themselves in a great way. Hopefully FIFA will hold the next World Cup in a more extraordinary manner so that football fans are enthralled again.

The next World Cup will be held in as many as three countries and 16 cities, in the USA, Canada and Mexico, and as many as 48 national teams will participate, which has never happened before.
So, practically, a quarter of all the countries in the world will participate in this world cup, and this will mean a lot for the development of football in less developed African and Asian countries.
A completely different question is about the quality of the competition itself and the astronomical costs for the organizers, but FIFA has obviously already achieved its goal related to the profit from the competition.

[Leviathan.007]

Even if beer was banned from stadiums in Qatar what’s the big deal about that, before the World Cup we had some sort of ideas about the religious laws in the Middle East I don’t think it’s right forcing a country out of their own culture.

Regardless of all the critics Qatar raise the standards in World Cup hosting and I am not going to envy the next host of the World Cup because it would be hard to out do Qatar .

I also agree with what you said!
I believe that even before Qatar was chosen for the World Cup, FIFA teams and staff knew that, that country has different cultures, it is a very religious country, and have several strict rules.

Will we have any restrictions during the world cup games in 2026?

Yes and before the recent World Cup happened, the FIFA council made sure that everything they do, they will have a discussion with it or relay it to the organizers to make sure that whatever they are planning to do will not be against to the country's culture and beliefs because FIFA will certainly be under heavy criticisms once a single mistake will slide out. But this time, I bet the World Cup will be much looser because the countries in North America which will host the next WC are pretty much open to almost everything.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar just ended with a bang. The organization of this World Cup has created a great stir all over the world. By doing this, FIFA has been able to match themselves in a great way. Hopefully FIFA will hold the next World Cup in a more extraordinary manner so that football fans are enthralled again.

From what people were watching on TV in the 2022 World cup everything was fantastic and there was no problem they also saw the stadiums with last technologies and even the people who visited Qatar for the world cup enjoyed the hotels and the services they provided there but in fact, many workers died and billion dollar spends for it. I think they let three countries host the world cup to avoid these mistakes because there won't be one country handling the world cup.

[Leviathan.007]

The next World Cup will be held in as many as three countries and 16 cities, in the USA, Canada and Mexico, and as many as 48 national teams will participate, which has never happened before.
So, practically, a quarter of all the countries in the world will participate in this world cup, and this will mean a lot for the development of football in less developed African and Asian countries.
A completely different question is about the quality of the competition itself and the astronomical costs for the organizers, but FIFA has obviously already achieved its goal related to the profit from the competition.

This is the first time we see three countries hosting the world cup and 48 countries the world cup, we should wait for 2026 to see the result of the decision of FIFA, I know it can decrease the quality of the 2026 world cup so I'm not a fan of the increasing number of the teams but in the same time it will increase the community of the world cup by letting three countries host the world cup and it can have benefits in the other hand.

[KTChampions]

This is the first time we see three countries hosting the world cup and 48 countries the world cup, we should wait for 2026 to see the result of the decision of FIFA, I know it can decrease the quality of the 2026 world cup so I'm not a fan of the increasing number of the teams but in the same time it will increase the community of the world cup by letting three countries host the world cup and it can have benefits in the other hand.

The level of the World Cup has long lagged behind club football, and in fact we will see interesting games starting from the quarterfinals. Although this bunch of participating countries and a bunch of host countries creates an atmosphere not of a serious competition, but of some kind of carnival. From the point of view of entertainment, it's probably cool - but only if you go there live, but I won't watch most of the games of this tournament even for money.

[Japinat]

Even if beer was banned from stadiums in Qatar what’s the big deal about that, before the World Cup we had some sort of ideas about the religious laws in the Middle East I don’t think it’s right forcing a country out of their own culture.

Regardless of all the critics Qatar raise the standards in World Cup hosting and I am not going to envy the next host of the World Cup because it would be hard to out do Qatar .

I also agree with what you said!
I believe that even before Qatar was chosen for the World Cup, FIFA teams and staff knew that, that country has different cultures, it is a very religious country, and have several strict rules.

Will we have any restrictions during the world cup games in 2026?

Yes and before the recent World Cup happened, the FIFA council made sure that everything they do, they will have a discussion with it or relay it to the organizers to make sure that whatever they are planning to do will not be against to the country's culture and beliefs because FIFA will certainly be under heavy criticisms once a single mistake will slide out. But this time, I bet the World Cup will be much looser because the countries in North America which will host the next WC are pretty much open to almost everything.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar just ended with a bang. The organization of this World Cup has created a great stir all over the world. By doing this, FIFA has been able to match themselves in a great way. Hopefully FIFA will hold the next World Cup in a more extraordinary manner so that football fans are enthralled again.

From what people were watching on TV in the 2022 World cup everything was fantastic and there was no problem they also saw the stadiums with last technologies and even the people who visited Qatar for the world cup enjoyed the hotels and the services they provided there but in fact, many workers died and billion dollar spends for it. I think they let three countries host the world cup to avoid these mistakes because there won't be one country handling the world cup.

I think that's not the reason why the next world cup are going to happen in North America because I believe that even before the Qatar hosted the World Cup, the schedules are already settled like who will host the next WC. It's not that they are going to select it impromptu who will host afterwards because this has a process and it will undergo in some biddings, etc. And in the recent talks, it looks like that the KSA-Greece-Egypt will likely host the 2030 World Cup because I think they already won the bid.

[Jody.Drummer]

Oh yes, this year there will be the U-20 World Cup which is planned to be held in Indonesia as the host. However, from the latest news, FIFA canceled Indonesia as the host for several reasons. Not only that, before FIFA canceled Indonesia as the host, there were indeed many rejections for Israel from several community groups to politicians as a form of their support for Palestine. I haven't heard the exact reason why FIFA canceled the U-20 World Cup in Indonesia, maybe it could be related to the rejection of one of the countries that might make the World Cup unsafe, or it also has something to do with the tragedy that happened in Indonesia some time ago.
However, if the reason for the Israeli national team was the reason for them to cancel it, many would say that FIFA has a double standard on this matter. Because in the last World Cup they actually removed Russia from the list of countries that would appear in the World Cup. What do you think?

[RealMalatesta]

This is the first time we see three countries hosting the world cup and 48 countries the world cup, we should wait for 2026 to see the result of the decision of FIFA, I know it can decrease the quality of the 2026 world cup so I'm not a fan of the increasing number of the teams but in the same time it will increase the community of the world cup by letting three countries host the world cup and it can have benefits in the other hand.

The level of the World Cup has long lagged behind club football, and in fact we will see interesting games starting from the quarterfinals. Although this bunch of participating countries and a bunch of host countries creates an atmosphere not of a serious competition, but of some kind of carnival. From the point of view of entertainment, it's probably cool - but only if you go there live, but I won't watch most of the games of this tournament even for money.

I think manager issue is the biggest issue there and we need managers who run both club and national team to make that happen again. Because we see managers who only manage national teams, and those guys have like maybe 10-20 games a year at most, whereas club ones have like as much as 60 depending on which teams manager they are.

So national teams do not really pay that well, plus managers don't want to sit at home for 3 months to watch their players in clubs. If we can convince people like pep to manage Spain, or Mourinho to Portugal etc etc, while managing the club as well, that would be a good idea for sure. I think it would bring a lot of success to national teams, and more fun as well.

[mm2543363580]

This is the first time we see three countries hosting the world cup and 48 countries the world cup, we should wait for 2026 to see the result of the decision of FIFA, I know it can decrease the quality of the 2026 world cup so I'm not a fan of the increasing number of the teams but in the same time it will increase the community of the world cup by letting three countries host the world cup and it can have benefits in the other hand.

The level of the World Cup has long lagged behind club football, and in fact we will see interesting games starting from the quarterfinals. Although this bunch of participating countries and a bunch of host countries creates an atmosphere not of a serious competition, but of some kind of carnival. From the point of view of entertainment, it's probably cool - but only if you go there live, but I won't watch most of the games of this tournament even for money.

I think manager issue is the biggest issue there and we need managers who run both club and national team to make that happen again. Because we see managers who only manage national teams, and those guys have like maybe 10-20 games a year at most, whereas club ones have like as much as 60 depending on which teams manager they are.

So national teams do not really pay that well, plus managers don't want to sit at home for 3 months to watch their players in clubs. If we can convince people like pep to manage Spain, or Mourinho to Portugal etc etc, while managing the club as well, that would be a good idea for sure. I think it would bring a lot of success to national teams, and more fun as well.

This is going to be an experiment for fifa and when a new experiment is done many discrepancies are likely to be emerged . Its going to be a huge success that's for sure becausee  to popularity to football in Europe but how they'll manage games and how fans and teams will move around is a big question  .

[og kush420]

This is the first time we see three countries hosting the world cup and 48 countries the world cup, we should wait for 2026 to see the result of the decision of FIFA, I know it can decrease the quality of the 2026 world cup so I'm not a fan of the increasing number of the teams but in the same time it will increase the community of the world cup by letting three countries host the world cup and it can have benefits in the other hand.

The level of the World Cup has long lagged behind club football, and in fact we will see interesting games starting from the quarterfinals. Although this bunch of participating countries and a bunch of host countries creates an atmosphere not of a serious competition, but of some kind of carnival. From the point of view of entertainment, it's probably cool - but only if you go there live, but I won't watch most of the games of this tournament even for money.

I think manager issue is the biggest issue there and we need managers who run both club and national team to make that happen again. Because we see managers who only manage national teams, and those guys have like maybe 10-20 games a year at most, whereas club ones have like as much as 60 depending on which teams manager they are.

So national teams do not really pay that well, plus managers don't want to sit at home for 3 months to watch their players in clubs. If we can convince people like pep to manage Spain, or Mourinho to Portugal etc etc, while managing the club as well, that would be a good idea for sure. I think it would bring a lot of success to national teams, and more fun as well.

as mentioned below this will be experiment for the management as well. I am not sure what came to their mind when they decided that three countries will be hosting FIFA world cup - I think they are experimenting new things -first they allowed muslim country to host it now they want three countries to host FIFA cup