Menu
International Football

FIFA President Infantino To Encourage Co-Hosting Of 2026 World Cup

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that the 2026 World Cup "could be split between up to four countries," according to Tom Finn of REUTERS. He announced that FIFA would "encourage applications to co-host the tournament." Infantino: "(We could) ... maybe bring together two, three, four countries who can jointly present a project with three, four, five stadiums each. We will certainly encourage it. Ideally the countries will be close to each other." His remarks could "open the way" to a joint bid from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which have "already said they intend to hold discussions over the possibility." Concern has been raised about the "financial burden placed on a single tournament host, and the bad publicity generated by stadiums built and then abandoned after use." Swedish FA Chair Karl-Erik Nilsson "quickly backed co-hosting for the World Cup too." He said, "It's a good idea, and Europe has of course previously worked in this way on the European Championships." The idea has "taken off" at the European Championship, with Belgium and the Netherlands co-hosting in '00, Austria and Switzerland in '08 and Poland and Ukraine in '12. The next tournament in '20 "has been designated as Pan-European" and is due to be staged in 13 cities in 13 countries (REUTERS, 2/16). In London, Ed Malyon wrote while "to some extent there is a justification, given the sorry state of Brazil and Greece after staging recent Olympiads and World Cups, it appears to be yet another vote-grabbing policy" from FIFA that does not necessarily have the game's best interests front and center. This would be "huge" for FIFA in terms of sponsorships and growing its "already huge tax-free revenues" from organizing the World Cup (INDEPENDENT, 2/16). 

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2017/02/17/International-Football/2026-World-Cup.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2017/02/17/International-Football/2026-World-Cup.aspx

CLOSE