Ranking potential 2026 World Cup host cities in USA, Mexico, Canada

With a list of 44 potential stadiums, and 41 cities, now lined up as hosts for the 2026 World Cup in USA, Mexico and Canada, the bid for the first 48-team World Cup in history is starting to take shape.

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On Thursday a list of the 41 cities who had submitted their “official declaration of interest” to be a host city was released for the World Cup.

Of course, there is still a long way to go until the winning bid is confirmed for the tournament but the joint-bid from the three largest countries in North America is the overwhelming favorite to be backed by FIFA.

Aside from exactly how the tournament would be scheduled in terms of where group games would be played to cut down on travel, most of the noise around this potential tournament (the second on U.S. soil, first in Canada and third in Mexico) is positive.

As a reminder it is proposed the U.S. will host 60 of the 80 matches with Canada and Mexico given 10 games each, which seems a little too U.S. centric for most.

For 32-team World Cups there are usually 10-12 host stadiums but with an extra 16 teams to take part in the 2026 World Cup it is probably necessary to have at least 18-20 stadiums. And as we have seen with Gold Cup and Copa America Centenario tournaments in recent years held in the U.S. tournaments have been spread around as much as possible, so maybe there will be 20-25 host stadiums.

Now we know who wants to host World Cup games — six stadiums were submitted from Canada, three from Mexico and 35 from the USA — below is a ranking of the potential host cities based on the following factors:

• Current soccer culture
• Their readiness to host World Cup matches
• How popular the host stadium would be
• Location infrastructure

Agree? Disagree?

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1. East Rutherford, New Jersey, MetLife Stadium
2. Mexico City, Estadio Azteca
3. Pasadena, California, Rose Bowl
4. Arlington, Texas, AT&T Stadium
5. Toronto, BMO Field
6. Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz Stadium
7. Vancouver, Canada, BC Place
8. Chicago, Soldier Field
9. Houston, NRG Stadium
10. Miami, Hard Rock Stadium
11. Foxborough, Massachusetts, Gillette Stadium
12. Philadelphia, Lincoln Financial Field
13. Landover, Maryland, FedEx Field
14. Montreal, Olympic Stadium
15. Seattle, CenturyLink Field
16. Denver, Sports Authority Field
17. Santa Clara, California, Levi’s Stadium
18. Las Vegas, Raiders stadium under construction
19. Guadalajara, Estadio Chivas
20. Monterrey, Estadio Rayados
21. Inglewood, California, LA Stadium at Hollywood Park
22. Orlando, Florida, Camping World Stadium
23. Minneapolis, U.S. Bank Stadium
24. Nashville, Tennessee, Nissan Stadium
25. Charlotte, North Carolina, Bank of America Stadium
26. New Orleans, Superdome
27. Kansas City, Missouri, Arrowhead Stadium
28. Tampa, Florida, Raymond James Stadium
29. Jacksonville, Florida, EverBank Field
30. Glendale, Arizona, University of Phoenix Stadium
31. Dallas, Cotton Bowl
32. Cincinnati, Paul Brown Stadium
33. Baltimore, M&T Bank Stadium
34. Pittsburgh, Heinz Field
35. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
36. Detroit, Ford Field
37. Ottawa, Ontario, TD Place
38. Salt Lake City, Rice-Eccles Stadium
39. San Antonio, Alamodome
40. Indianapolis, Lucas Oil Stadium
41. Cleveland, FirstEnergy Stadium
42. Edmonton, Alberta, Commonwealth Stadium
43. Regina, Saskatchewan, Mosaic Stadium
44. Birmingham, Alabama, Legion Field

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