ESPN reports:

Perhaps...maybe...with the combined weight of the major North American countries we can get a World Cup at the expense of the corrupt class' pocketbook.

The fact that Morocco hasn't already been ruled out as a serious bid is troubling and ridiculous. Nonetheless, maybe we've got a real shot this time.

They'll never rule out Morocco completely because the FIFA president wants votes when he is up for reelection. Each country gets one vote, and there are 56 votes among the countries in Africa.

It's kind of ironic that the FIFA president's push for a 48-team World Cup (which is also just pandering for FIFA votes from Africa and Asia) is one of the biggest factors weighing against Morocco, because more stadiums are required and thus it's even more expensive for a potential host country that doesn't already have stadiums in place.

Morocco bids for everything. But, yes, FIFA will never rule any nation out for political reasons. Looking into the future, I see uneven distribution of World Cup hosts with North America and Oceania getting the shaft. (I count Australia as Oceania even though they play in Asia.)

(06-02-2018 12:10 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  ESPN reports:

Perhaps...maybe...with the combined weight of the major North American countries we can get a World Cup at the expense of the corrupt class' pocketbook.

The fact that Morocco hasn't already been ruled out as a serious bid is troubling and ridiculous. Nonetheless, maybe we've got a real shot this time.

They have to go with North America at this point regardless of the bribe potential. If the combined host nations get screwed out of this one they won’t bid again for 20 years, turning the world Cup into the Olympics. While Russia should be OK, Qatar is going to be a disaster.

Watch Europe, etc vote for Morocco to spite the US...

(06-04-2018 02:12 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  Watch Europe, etc vote for Morocco to spite the US...

Nah, in FIFA they vote for money, not spite.

134 votes for United 2026
65 votes for Morocco 2026
1 vote for ‘None of the bids

Going to 48 nearly necessitates multinational bids. Look for bids like:

Argentina/Chile/Uruguay/Paraguay
Portugal/Spain
France/Belgium/Netherlands/Monaco
Italy/Switzerland
Germany/Denmark/Sweden
England/Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland/Ireland
China/Japan/South Korea
Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia
Serbia/Croatia/Slovenia/Bosnia & Herzegovina
Romania/Bulgaria/Hungary
Greece/Turkey/Egypt

So will Canada, USA, and Mexico all get auto-bids for the 2026 World Cup??

(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  So will Canada, USA, and Mexico all get auto-bids for the 2026 World Cup??

FIFA will vote on that next summer

(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  So will Canada, USA, and Mexico all get auto-bids for the 2026 World Cup??

Yes. All information seems to say all 3 would get bids. It also seems that the host bids will come directly out of that country's confederation's bids.

Currently, for 32 teams, the confederation bid breakdown:

UEFA (Europe): 13
CAF (Africa): 5
CONMEBOL (South America): 4.5
AFC (Asia): 4.5
CONCACAF (North America): 3.5
OFC (Oceania): 0.5
Host: 1

For 48 teams, the confederation breakdown will be:

UEFA (Europe): 16
CAF (Africa): 9
AFC (Asia): 8
CONMEBOL (South America): 6
CONCACAF (North America): 6
OFC (Oceania): 1
Playoff: 2 (playoff will consist of 6 teams; 1 from CAF, AFC, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, OFC, and host nation's confederation)

2030 bids:

Uruguay/Argentina/Paraguay (Chile under consideration to join)
England/Wales/Scotland (I personally think Northern Ireland and Ireland should join)

2034 bids:

ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam)
China
Zimbabwe

My personal hope for 2030 would be a UK bid (including Ireland and Northern Ireland) to host with all 5 nations included. My personal hope for 2034 would be for ASEAN to host and, because the 10 nations have 1 combined World Cup bid (Indonesia as Dutch East Indies in 1938), have those 10 nations play in a home-and-home separate tournament for 2-3 of the AFC's bids.

(06-15-2018 04:52 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  So will Canada, USA, and Mexico all get auto-bids for the 2026 World Cup??

Yes. All information seems to say all 3 would get bids. It also seems that the host bids will come directly out of that country's confederation's bids.

Every article I have read says the opposite

Quote:It’s not yet clear whether the US, Canada and Mexico will all automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup or if they’ll have to compete with other Concacaf countries for a spot. Host nations have always been granted automatic berths into the tournament, including in the lone previous World Cup that was co-hosted by multiple countries (2002; Japan and South Korea).

Some confusion arose on Wednesday when FIFA president Gianni Infantino told reporters that it would be up to Concacaf to decide if the US, Canada and Mexico receive auto-bids to the World Cup. Cordeiro contradicted Infantino’s statement on the conference call, saying that the decision will be made by FIFA.

FIFA determines how many spots in each World Cup are given to each confederation. It’s then down to each individual confederation to determine its own qualifying competition for its allocation of World Cup berths. Those decisions, along with the question of automatic qualification for the co-hosts, will presumably be made at a future FIFA congress.

(06-15-2018 04:58 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 04:52 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  So will Canada, USA, and Mexico all get auto-bids for the 2026 World Cup??

Yes. All information seems to say all 3 would get bids. It also seems that the host bids will come directly out of that country's confederation's bids.

Every article I have read says the opposite

Quote:It’s not yet clear whether the US, Canada and Mexico will all automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup or if they’ll have to compete with other Concacaf countries for a spot. Host nations have always been granted automatic berths into the tournament, including in the lone previous World Cup that was co-hosted by multiple countries (2002; Japan and South Korea).

Some confusion arose on Wednesday when FIFA president Gianni Infantino told reporters that it would be up to Concacaf to decide if the US, Canada and Mexico receive auto-bids to the World Cup. Cordeiro contradicted Infantino’s statement on the conference call, saying that the decision will be made by FIFA.

FIFA determines how many spots in each World Cup are given to each confederation. It’s then down to each individual confederation to determine its own qualifying competition for its allocation of World Cup berths. Those decisions, along with the question of automatic qualification for the co-hosts, will presumably be made at a future FIFA congress.

Sounds like they hadn't anticipated this scenario and there doesn't appear to be a clear procedure in place.

If it comes down to CONCACAF though, I think they'll get in. For one, the US and Mexico would probably qualify anyway and with the extra slots coming for that tournament there's really no harm in making sure Canada gets in. I'll go out on a limb and say it's good for the federation if Canada gets in anyway as their program needs to be beefed up.

CONCACAF gets 6 automatic entries and it looks like 2 playoff spots as well since they're hosting. That's plenty of space for any other worthy country to get in. It's not like CONCACAF is full of heavyweights.

I hope as well that they drop this 3-team group nonsense.

If you're going to go with 48 then break everything down into 8 groups of 6. Everyone plays 5 group matches. You take the top 2 from each group and you have a very select 16 for the knockout round.

The bright side is that a bunch of nations that might not normally get to play many matches get a few extra games and their fans can enjoy the experience a little more.

(06-15-2018 04:58 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 04:52 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  So will Canada, USA, and Mexico all get auto-bids for the 2026 World Cup??

Yes. All information seems to say all 3 would get bids. It also seems that the host bids will come directly out of that country's confederation's bids.

Every article I have read says the opposite

Quote:It’s not yet clear whether the US, Canada and Mexico will all automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup or if they’ll have to compete with other Concacaf countries for a spot. Host nations have always been granted automatic berths into the tournament, including in the lone previous World Cup that was co-hosted by multiple countries (2002; Japan and South Korea).

Some confusion arose on Wednesday when FIFA president Gianni Infantino told reporters that it would be up to Concacaf to decide if the US, Canada and Mexico receive auto-bids to the World Cup. Cordeiro contradicted Infantino’s statement on the conference call, saying that the decision will be made by FIFA.

FIFA determines how many spots in each World Cup are given to each confederation. It’s then down to each individual confederation to determine its own qualifying competition for its allocation of World Cup berths. Those decisions, along with the question of automatic qualification for the co-hosts, will presumably be made at a future FIFA congress.

The bid went in with the full anticipation that all 3 would be automatically qualified which came from conversations with FIFA. The bid book presented to FIFA says as much.

(06-15-2018 04:49 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  So will Canada, USA, and Mexico all get auto-bids for the 2026 World Cup??

FIFA will vote on that next summer

It would be a difficult precedent to set. What if the next winning joint bid has 5 host countries? There has to be an outer limit on the number of host country automatic bids, or at the very least, a minimum number of World Cup matches in a particular host country to receive an automatic bid.

Which cities were in the bid? Where is the final going to be?

(06-16-2018 01:20 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Which cities were in the bid? Where is the final going to be?

Potential host sites

There will be 3 each in Canada and Mexico. The remaining 10 will be in the US, but they haven't been finalized yet. There are 17 sites to choose from.

I believe i heard the final will be in the Meadowlands.

cincinnati's already been eliminated unfortunately for the world

(06-16-2018 01:37 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  

(06-16-2018 01:20 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Which cities were in the bid? Where is the final going to be?

Potential host sites

There will be 3 each in Canada and Mexico. The remaining 10 will be in the US, but they haven't been finalized yet. There are 17 sites to choose from.

I believe i heard the final will be in the Meadowlands.

Yeah, reportedly the final will be in New Jersey and the opening game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Guesses for the other 8 U.S. sites: Atlanta, Boston (Foxborough), Dallas (Arlington), Denver, Kansas City, Orlando, Seattle, Washington (Landover).