November 18 – With Canada have pushed themselves into the top qualifying slot for the 2002 World Cup in Edmonton, it was the city’s turn to stake its claim to be a host venue for 2026.
The 2026 World Cup will be the first to be played by 48-nations and hosted by three countries – the US, Mexico and Canada. Canada will host 10 games with Edmonton and Toronto being the only two host candidate cities after Montreal pulled out.
Hosting the FIFA World Cup 2026 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Edmonton to be a part of the world’s biggest single sport event,” said City Councillor and Deputy Mayor Tim Cartmell. “Building on our long history of delivering world class events, I’m confident Edmonton has the expertise, experience and energy to help FIFA deliver an outstanding FIFA World Cup.”
Among the delegates representing FIFA were Vice-President and Concacaf President Victor Montagliani, and Colin Smith, Chief Tournaments and Events Officer who were also at the match between Canada and the US on Tuesday. Close to 50,000 were in the Commonwealth Stadium where temperatures had dropped to minus 9 degrees Celsius at kick off.
A local economic impact study has calculated that the capital region could see more than 250,000 out of town visitors, with an impact conservatively estimated at $600 million.
“Our team at Exlore Edmonton, along with our partners at the City of Edmonton, have been working on these site evaluations for months,” said Explore Edmnton CEO Traci Bednard. “And this past week leading up to the visit, it has been all hands-on deck to ensure no detail was missed and that everything went smoothly. I could not be more proud to join Explore Edmonton and get a first-hand look at what this team can accomplish in only my first few days on the job.”
FIFA is expected to make a final decision on host venues in the first half of 2022.
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