Vancouver joins list of cities vying to host 2026 World Cup games

World Cup games could be played in Vancouver after all. The city recently completed an inspection visit by a FIFA delegation, and world football’s governing body has agreed to accept the city’s candidacy, it was announced on Thursday.

B.C. Place, home of Major League Soccer’s Whitecaps, is the proposed facility for the event, having hosted nine matches during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015, including the final in front of over 50,000 spectators.

B.C. pulled out of contention back in 2018 with Premier John Horgan citing the unknown costs of hosting the event, but he recently said the province was open to entertaining a bid.

Toronto’s BMO Field and Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium were already on the list of Canadian cities in the running to be World Cup venues, having been visited in the fall. Both of those stadiums hosted games during the men’s national team’s recent successful qualifying run for the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

Vancouver now joins that group, which also includes three Mexican cities (Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City), and 17 U.S. cities (Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York/New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco/Bay area, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.). FIFA has targeted mid-May for announcing site selections.

The 2026 World Cup will be the first to be hosted by three nations and feature an expanded 48 teams, which is an increase from the usual 32. The initial plan from the bid committee called for Canada and Mexico to host 10 games each with the U.S. hosting 60, including all games from the quarterfinals on.

Montreal was originally a Canadian candidate city but withdrew in July due to concerns from the provincial government about cost overruns. 

With files from The Canadian Press