FIFA and the U.S. Soccer Federation today will meet virtually with the 17 American cities vying to be host sites for the ‘26 FIFA World Cup. The meeting will reignite the selection process after a postponed March 16-18 workshop in Dallas. FIFA Chief Tournaments & Events Officer Colin Smith said that initial plans were to finalize the selection process in spring '21, which would have included at least two sets of on-site inspection visits this year. However, those plans have been delayed. Smith added that it is difficult to give a final selection date for the 10 cities. It is also not clear at this time when there will be on-site visits, he said. Later this year, FIFA and U.S. Soccer “will have a better idea” on the inspection schedule and overall time needed for the selection process. Over the next three to four weeks, Smith said, the two organizations will have individual meetings with each of the 17 cities to go into more detail on their process. “We want to look at the clustering, the location of the venues, the time zones,” said Smith about some of the criteria. “We also look at the climatic conditions in terms of the timing of matches, the heat in certain matches at certain times of the day. We look at all of those considerations. Ultimately, what we’re looking to do, together with US Soccer, is come up with the best list of stadiums to host this tournament."
