As football fans across the globe get ready for the beginning of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in just a few weeks, it serves as a reminder to North America they’re up next.
For the first time the FIFA World Cup will be hosted by three countries in 2026, the United States, Canada and Mexico. It will mark the second time for the U.S., first for Canada, and a record third time for Mexico.
Houston was one of 16 cities across North America to get the good news in June that they will host at least one FIFA World Cup match. Four years may seem like plenty of time to get ready, especially for a large city like Houston with all the infrastructure already in place, but as Chris Canetti, President of the Houston 2026 World Cup Bid Committee exclusively told Around the Rings, there is no time to waste.
“We’re definitely busy,” he said. “The main thing is to set up the legal structure of our organization. We have started the process of fundraising and had conversations with companies in Houston that would be most likely to support us.”
“We did a lot of legwork in the bid so we aren’t starting from scratch, we are just carrying on.”
Although this is Houston’s first FIFA World Cup, the city is the fourth-largest population wise in the U.S., and is well-versed in hosting major sporting events like the World Series, the Super Bowl and the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Bringing the world’s biggest event to Houston was a logical next step.
“I feel like we’re a couple of steps ahead thanks to the structure we had in place during the bid and based on the work we did during the bid,” Canetti told Around the Rings. “We feel like we’re on a pretty good solid footing and foundation going forward.”
NRG Stadium will be the site of the matches in 2026. Built in 2002, it’s the home of the National Football League’s Houston Texans, hosted the Super Bowl in 2004 and 2017 and can seat roughly 75,000 fans in a climate-controlled environment for the FIFA World Cup.
It’s too early in the game for Houston to know what matches and what teams they will host, but Canetti says Houston definitely has a wish list already in place.
“We’re making an assumption of five matches. We don’t qualify for a semifinal or the final because our stadium isn’t large enough, but I’m hoping we get three to four group stage games, and two knockouts with one of them being a quarterfinal.”
“Mexico and the U.S. have been here many times, it would be awesome for the residents of this community, but so would Brazil vs. England or Italy vs. Argentina.”
“We’ll sell out the stadium regardless of the match.”
The stadium is ready, the hotels are in place and the city has two major international airports to welcome the world to Houston.
“We’re a city fully equipped to handle it. We have the most direct flights to and from South and Central America of any city in the country. We’re one of two cities in the U.S. to have direct flights to all six inhabited continents. People can get here.”
“Houston is a very diverse and international city.”
Naturally, the football world’s attention is on the Middle East as Qatar will be the smallest country to ever host the FIFA World Cup, but when the golden trophy is presented in Lusail Stadium on December 18, it will be game on for not just Houston but the entire continent.
“FIFA is very focused on Qatar and what’s going on there. All eyes aren’t on North America yet, but after Qatar we are going full steam ahead.”
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