FIFA will generate $11 billion in the 2026 World Cup

World Championship two years ago?

FIFA is considering an astonishing innovation: according to recent reports, President Gianni Infantino would like to see the World Cup take place every four years instead of four. Idea details Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s Global Development Director will soon be revealed to the public, but even the leaked information sparked strong protests. The World Leagues Forum, which includes representatives from 41 world championships, said the planned change would have a negative impact on the football economy, draining players and spoiling an already crowded calendar.

FIFA officials will begin visiting potential venues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to determine which of the 16 stadiums will host the match in the United States, Canada and Mexico. While the focus of world football is more on the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, America has an astonishing upheaval on the early FIFA Tour: Rival cities run a large-scale campaign to get involved in 2026, with World Cup ambassadors on site, raucous media events increase their chances Before a decision is expected early next year. The FIFA delegation will gather two personal impressions of the stadiums for two tours this fall, as the week-long tour begins in Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando, Washington, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia and Miami. FA divisions: Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas, Denver, Kansas, Houston and Cincinnati in the United States, Edmonton and Toronto in Canada, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City in Mexico.

Moment in sporting history: FIFA President Gianni Infantino (right) announces that three countries – the United States, Canada and Mexico – will host the 2026 World Cup (Image: AFP)

As is evident from the list, the three five-year-old World Cup hosts would be far from equal in quotas (and benefits), with Mexico giving only three and Canada – two steps back in Montreal in early summer – only two places. The remaining eleven will now be provided by the United States, which is now competing with “only” seventeen cities after narrowing down the multiple round.

Why do we need so many stadiums? As you can read from the charts attached to this article, the US Super Championship will be a milestone in the history of the World Cup in many ways: it will be held in three countries for the first time, with 48 teams instead of 32, and an unprecedented number of matches. FIFA President Gianni Infantino really wanted to inflate the World Cup in Qatar, and was eventually forced to abandon his plan due to political and logistical obstacles (it was necessary to involve sites outside Qatar, but this was not possible due to tensions in the East. In contrast, there is already a mitigated giant tournament Many votes provide presidential support for the Swiss sports leader, raising World Cup hopes for smaller football nations, but has been heavily criticized by many on a professional basis.The assumption, detailed in an article in the New York Times, that Infantino also sought to compensate rights holders Broadcast television with extended match range, as the 2022 date postponed due to the summer heat in Qatar, is not very popular with the NFL, NBA and US television companies that rely on NHL broadcasts.By the way, in addition to Telemundo and Bell Media, the most important TV partner, Fox, during the presidency of Joseph Blatter in 2015, FIFA extended the contract of broadcasting rights for the World Cup, and many interpreted this move as a corruption scandal.This is how the FIFA administration tried to prevent further media attacks due to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

As for implementation: the forty-eight national teams will be divided into sixteen groups of three, two teams from each group will advance, and in the thirty-two-member field, the fight will continue on a direct knockout basis. Thus the system allows, although there will be 80 matches instead of 64 (planned for 60 matches in the US, 10-10 in Canada and Mexico), the duration will remain the usual 32 days, and the burden on players will not increase like the World Cup. The winner plays as many matches as he does today. These ambulance conditions are also needed for those in charge of the expansion, who are hardly accused of making a hard-to-defend decision for the football career solely with the goal of increasing revenue. According to an article by the famous international expert Keir Radnig, the television revenue of the 2018 tournament in Russia will increase to $ 3.6 billion for the team 1.5 times. The European Club Association protested the layoffs, as former German Football Association captain Joachim Loew took his word in vain, and FIFA did not abandon the forty-eight.

Former US President Donald Trump warned of the resentment of those who support Moroccans (Photo: AFP)

Three countries and three numbers

First nation Mexico, hosted three world championships (after 1970 and 1986)

The United States is hosting the World Cup for the second time (after 1994), which has already hosted in two ways the Women’s World Cup in a unique way.

Fifth place is Canada, where the men’s and women’s world championships are held

Why would he allow it when, before the decision was made at the 2018 Moscow Congress, US bidders allowed the plan presented by United2026 to win FIFA profits of $11 billion, doubling previously recorded profits? As for the director’s side, according to a 2018 study by the Boston Consulting Group, the total economic benefits of the tournament could be between $3 billion and $4 billion in America, and the benefits of the host city are estimated at between $90 million and $4 billion. 480 million, depending on various factors. As for the initial losses, a study commissioned by the Canadian city of Edmonton may have directed the local budget from $35 million to $55 million.

“Canada, Mexico and the United States have been honored to host the most special sporting event in the world He welcomed FIFA’s positive decision in an open letter three years ago by the president of the three football associations concerned. “There were several factors involved in the election, but above all the passion of supporters in the three countries.”

Undoubtedly, several factors played a role in the decision, but they are also clear: the passion of the fans was neither divided nor multiplied when the FIFA Congress in Moscow decided the fate of the 2026 World Cup. More than that, considerations of sports policy. Infantino, who took office in February 2016, had undeniable sympathy for the US offer from the start, so much so that half a year before the 2026 venue was decided, he welcomed the US, Canada and Mexico plan in early January 2018. The competition wasn’t really fierce, and that’s because Also to Presidential Intent: Infantino announced in March 2017 that FIFA would revert to its previous principle that members of the two previous World Cup-related competitions could not compete for the World Cup, so the 2026 World Cup due to Russia and Qatar, would disqualify potential applicants from Europe and Asia. The only contender to the American plan remained Moroccan tender, which was intended as little more than a show of sporting might, and despite its dubious seriousness, garnered significant support: Americans received 134 votes and Moroccans 65 (Sándor Csányi, Hungarian Football Federation President and Slovak Presidents The Serbs from our region and the Italian, French, Dutch and Belgian football federations from Western Europe have chosen Morocco). Given the stringent entry rules in the United States, especially for citizens of Muslim-majority countries, it was important, after a strong request from FIFA, that President Donald Trump record in an official resolution that discrimination against footballers, delegates and supporters around the world would be without it. However, the then US president indicated in a Twitter message that any country that helps Morocco’s bid to host the World Cup risks losing US support.

Football diplomacy has become deeply embroiled in the tangled state of global politics, as former FIFA President Joseph Blatter noted when he told Giorgi Zulusi in an interview with National Sports in 2017 that if the 2022 World Cup was held in Qatar in the 2010 vote, instead, the United States would You will avoid attacks and the downfall of the presidency. When it came to his earlier statement to the Financial Times that there was a behind-the-scenes agreement that the two superpowers, Russia and the United States, would have the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on the same day, Blatter said: “That would have been a good message for the big proponents and it would have cemented the campaign.” “Handshake for peace” If we present the World Cup to the major geopolitical players. Why was the background deal bypassed? French President Nicolas Sarkozy intervened in the 2022 World Cup by Michel Platini. That changed four votes. If four voters voted differently, the United States would win. “.

What secret and semi-secret deals overshadowed the vote have not been clarified since then, and who knows if they will be able to unravel what happened in full. In any case, those behind the scenes say there is reason to think at FIFA about the 2026 World Cup that there will finally be a ‘mirror’ World Cup after Qatar in the crosshairs of constant attacks. Even if you could make such a prediction on the battlefield of football diplomacy.