The Best Plan For The 2026 World Cup
The 2018 World Cup kicks off in less than a month. But before then, we have to look 8 years in the future.
3 weeks from today, FIFA will convene and vote on whether the 2026 World Cup will be hosted by Morocco, hosted in conjunction by Canada-United States-Mexico, or none of the above. When weighing the legitimacy of the two bids, there doesn't seem to be much of a chance for Morocco. After all, the Cup will not have been in North America since 1994, whereas it was hosted in Africa just 8 years ago. What's more, Morocco is geographically and culturally close to the Middle East, which will have hosted a World Cup just 4 years prior, in Qatar. Furthermore, there are legitimate concerns to be had over whether Morocco has the infrastructure as is; considering the fact that 2026 will be the first World Cup wherein the field is expanded to 48 teams, it only makes sense that the hosting duties would also be expansive.
Yet, as we have seen throughout the years with American bids for both the World Cup and the Olympics, by no means should we count our chickens. Nor our bald eagles. Both the IOC and FIFA often express their desire to spread the games to new corners of the world, and the United States is understandably not the most exciting choice for a host. True to form, the vote, which should be a shoo-in victory for the North American countries, seems to be coming down to the wire.
But, this is a preview for what exactly the 2026 World Cup would look like IF the United Bid does win out, as it should. And before we touch on the other assumptions we're working off of here, let me disclose that yes, I too think it is dumb that the good ol' USA is seeking partnership from Canada and Mexico when the country is more than capable of hosting the entire tournament within these 48 states. But at the very least, I understand the need for a little image control.
Background
The plan for the bid is for it to be co-hosted, but only kinda. Both Canada and Mexico only have 3 shortlisted potential venues, and though, all 3 would host matches from Group Play through the Round of 16, only the USA would host matches from the quarterfinals onward. Speaking of that shortlist, the final list has not yet been decided, but it will ultimately be whittled down to 16 cities with 16 venues.
The Venues
I am going to assume both Canada and Mexico's 3 venues that made the shortlist will also make the final list, leaving 10 cities for the United States. Here's what I think would be the most sensible final cut:
Canada
Mexico
United States
I think this selection of venues hits on all of America's biggest and most capable cities, America's most soccer-mad cities, the majority of their most capable stadiums (Arrowhead in KC is the only one that's perhaps not a natural fit for soccer), and represents a nice geographical disparity. That last point leads us to...
The Grouping
The way I best see this playing out, as there will be 16 groups of 3 teams, is to set the tournament up in regions. The way this work is to partner up host cities by proximity, and then assign that partnership to 2 groups. I'll give you an example. Given San Francisco and Los Angeles' relative proximity, they would be the two host cities for say, Group A. Because the tournament would progress as a regional, you would want them to also be the host cities for a Group whose winner would be on the same side of the bracket as Group A, so Group E.
Canada and Mexico's odd numbers throw a wrinkle in this system, but actually lead to a cool opportunity: to have 4 cross-country groups. One such pairing would be Edmonton and Seattle (a brisk 2 hour flight's distance), and another would be Houston and Monterrey (less than 500 miles apart).
Here's how I see the Groups pairing off -- the only rhyme or reason to the group numbering was that I did it in order of left to right, looking at a map. So scientific, I know.
In this scenario, I assigned Group A to Region 8 because I assumed Group A would hold the US, and I assumed the US should be playing in our nation's capital and our nation's biggest city. Amen? Darn right.
The Knockout Stages
As mentioned earlier, the other aspect of this particular set of host cities and particular grouping styles is that they break in nicely into 4 regionals of East, Central, South, and West. Here's what I mean:
So, the winners of the two groups in Region 7 would proceed to play the group winners in Region 8, all advancing within their regions , in a manner similar to the other greatest sporting event of all time, March Madness. Looking beyond the quarterfinals, these host cities even set up somewhat nicely for a 'Northern' semifinal and a 'Southern' semifinal, with the East and West zones being largely in the former, and the Central and South zones largely within the latter. This would set up perfectly for the giant stadiums in New York and Dallas to be the semifinal hosts. But see for yourself!
A Simulation
Because you are all my dear precious chickadees, and I want you to care about this idea, I went ahead and simulated a group draw done with 48 of the best nations from all regions of the World. Here's how the groups in the 2026 World Cup could look, with their host cities listed at the top:
Now, is all of this probably moot? Sure. The United Bid inevitably will end up losing to Morocco, I'm sure, and even if it does win, this plan makes way too much sense for the well-meaning but disorganized U.S. Soccer administration to pull together. But I find it an option worth considering if the CONCACAF representatives want to assuage any fears of their three-nation bid being chaotic and logistically nightmarish.