The FIFA World Cup is returning to North America in 2026 as the United States, Canada and Mexico will all serve as host countries.
At the end of 2021 FIFA visited eight potential host cities in the U.S., and Houston was more than happy to show them the advantages the nation’s fourth-largest city have to offer.
Speaking to Around the Rings, Houston 2026 World Cup Bid Committee President Chris Canetti said his city is ready to welcome the world.
“We’re a diverse, international city who’s hosted many major soccer events including the CONCACAF Gold Cup, FIFA World Cup qualifiers, International Champions Cup featuring Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester City,” said Canetti. “A lot of rich, international soccer comes through Houston, and our Major League Soccer team the Houston Dynamo have a good history of winning championships and having a strong fan base.”
Indeed, the Dynamo won the MLS Cup their first two seasons in Houston in 2006 and 2007, and ranked in the top-10 for attendance for the 2020 MLS season.
The city is certainly no stranger to hosting the biggest and best athletes in the world. They’ve hosted the Super Bowl three times, most recently in 2017, and will host the NCAA Final Four men’s basketball tournament for a fourth time next year.
Canetti acknowledged hosting the World Cup is a unique challenge.
“It’s the equivalent of hosting six Super Bowls in our market over the course of one month time. We’re fully capable as a city to do that,” he assured Around the Rings. “We have a tremendous amount of experience bringing major sporting events to our city, and a great track record of success.”
As luck would have it, Game 1 of Major League Baseball’s 2021 World Series was scheduled for the same day FIFA representatives were in Houston.
“That was a gift to us, to be able to take them to a major sporting event live in person while they were in the city for the site inspection to see the excitement here in Houston. At the same time, they could also see the logistics around a major operation like this. We were very fortunate the schedule worked out that way.”
“We hope we strengthened an already strong bid with our site visit.”
Canetti pointed out Houston has hosted the most major sporting events since 2004 of any candidate city.
“We have a great resume for hosting major sporting events, and we certainly have all the world class infrastructure that is required.”
Houston was not one of the venue cities when the U.S. hosted the 1994 World Cup, but the metro area’s population has more than doubled from three million to over six million people since 1994. One of the fastest-growing cities in the country has embraced soccer and Canetti believes the game can grow even further this decade.
“We hope the World Cup being here in 2026 will help further spur on the growth of the sport in the south Texas area. This is something our community desperately wants.”
“We have a lot of things going in our favor that make us a strong candidate for 2026.”
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be played in 16 cities across the three countries. The United States would be the first country to host both the men’s and women’s World Cup twice each.
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