[Football] 2026 World cup

[Albion my Albion]

MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

By then it will probably be called Trump International Stadium.

Reminder, Trump saw thousands and thousands of people in New Jersey cheering during the attack on the World Trade Centers on 11/09/2001.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

So do all 3 host nations automatically qualify for the finals?

No.

 

[Albion my Albion]

So do all 3 host nations automatically qualify for the finals?

No.

Then does any National team automatically qualify? Wouldn't it be tragic if the USMNT didn't qualify while the US is hosting the majority of the games? Or would that guarantee a more even handed World Cup?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Then does any National team automatically qualify? Wouldn't it be tragic if the USMNT didn't qualify while the US is hosting the majority of the games? Or would that guarantee a more even handed World Cup?

I don't think hosts automatically qualify any more, although that does beg the question WTF are the millions of Quatari soccer fans going to do when the world cup is on.

 

[Hugo Rune]

I think it's a really poor choice.

Me too. As you say, all about money.

The competition to host was appalling, where were all the other bids?

It’s going to be around 50 teams in a whole continent rather than a single country! They’ve finally ****ed the competition.

Should we do a UK wide bid along with Scandinavia & Iceland and ask FIFA to up it to 64 teams over 2 months? That’s the way it’s going.

 

[seagulls4ever]

Then does any National team automatically qualify? Wouldn't it be tragic if the USMNT didn't qualify while the US is hosting the majority of the games? Or would that guarantee a more even handed World Cup?

The host country would also automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup, and its slot would be taken from the quota of its confederation. In the event of co-hosting, the number of host countries to qualify automatically would be decided by the FIFA Council.

https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/new...allocation-for-the-2026-fifa-wor-2878254.html

Personally, I expect all 3 host countries to automatically qualify.

 

[Frutos]

This has basically created the first continental World Cup Host.

May as well be called North America 2026.

What next? Africa 2030? Europe 2034?

Wouldn't surprise me. Would have been better if it was a double host like other developing football nations Japan & S. Korea, USA & Canada.

Albeit as a one-off, Euro 2020 is Europe-wide.

 

[Badger]

That's not my experience of America/Canada and Americans/Canadians. Sure it's more popular than it was 20 years ago and the U.S team isn't the joke that it was but it's still their number five (four at best) sport and the place isn't going to be gripped by world cup fever like it would in Morocco or any other country that loves the game. On top of that it's spread out over three enormous countries. That's just plain ridiculous.

I'm sure it'll be a perfectly o.k tournament and compared to the shitshow that Qatar will be it will no doubt look great but..but...Morocco would have been miles better. Granted the stadium issue isn't great but it's a missed opportunity IMO.

Football is very popular in Canada, a lot of people follow the Premier League. There's just a general love of sport amongst a lot of Canadians.

On top of that, there's a huge number of immigrants from other football countries. If you go out on the streets of Toronto now there's World Cup flags everywhere.

 

[Buffalo Seagull]

I don't think hosts automatically qualify any more, although that does beg the question WTF are the millions of Quatari soccer fans going to do when the world cup is on.

I think it’s the defending champions who don’t qualify automatically anymore.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I think it’s the defending champions who don’t qualify automatically anymore.

Ah, that makes sense. My brain is slowly fading. Soon I wil go into the BG phase, where not only do I find that I'm wrong, but I get indignant and full of myself and refuse to back down. Not yet though. No siree!

edit and when I get to that stage please join an orderly queue to shoot me.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

By then it will probably be called Trump International Stadium.

Reminder, Trump saw thousands and thousands of people in New Jersey cheering during the attack on the World Trade Centers on 11/09/2001.

The Trump Memorial Stadium, after the assassination.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Gotta feel sorry for the English hooligans.

- Beaten to a pulp by off duty army special forces.
- Burnt to a crisp while drinking panda pops.
- Shot for no apparent reason.

Denied to chance of going to Aussieland for some like minded bonding and chair luzzing.

Only if they're black - white, they should be fine

 

[Stat Brother]

Only if they're black - white, they should be fine

unless they are students.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

unless they are students.

Ah yes, depends on who's doing to shooting - the police will only shoot unarmed black people. Non-police white people with assault rifles are far more fair in terms of their selection criteria.

 

[Arthur]

I don't think hosts automatically qualify any more, although that does beg the question WTF are the millions of Quatari soccer fans going to do when the world cup is on.

Well I'm only going on Wiki so may be bullshit (I can't be arsed to look any harder) but it says both Russia and Qatar have both qualified for the finals as hosts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_national_football_team#2018_FIFA_World_Cup

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Well I'm only going on Wiki so may be bullshit (I can't be arsed to look any harder) but it says both Russia and Qatar have both qualified for the finals as hosts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_national_football_team#2018_FIFA_World_Cup

No, you're reight, as noted several posts above. And with upwards of 60 participants by then, I'm sure that Labradore can be shoe-horned in too.

#worldcupatemywilly

 

[Simster]

That's not my experience of America/Canada and Americans/Canadians. Sure it's more popular than it was 20 years ago and the U.S team isn't the joke that it was but it's still their number five (four at best) sport and the place isn't going to be gripped by world cup fever like it would in Morocco or any other country that loves the game. On top of that it's spread out over three enormous countries. That's just plain ridiculous.

I'm sure it'll be a perfectly o.k tournament and compared to the shitshow that Qatar will be it will no doubt look great but..but...Morocco would have been miles better. Granted the stadium issue isn't great but it's a missed opportunity IMO.

That's about 20 years out of date - soccer is right up there in terms of popularity. It has always been a high participation sport, but was slow to be taken seriously, principally because of a lack of professional league. But things have changed.

MLS is still not taken seriously in many parts of the country, but Americans love the Mexican league, the Premier league, La Liga and Bundesliga - in that order. MLS viewing figures are third behind Mexican and English football. The point is that whilst MLS struggles for relevance, the sport certainly doesn't. Soccer TV ratings collectively absolutely dwarf those of NHL and are comfortably better than the NBA.

As for the World Cup, it is absolutely huge and has been so since at least 2006. It's why the USA took more fans to South Africa 2010 than any other country, and were in the top 3 of travelling numbers in Brazil too.

 

[seagulls4ever]

That's about 20 years out of date - soccer is right up there in terms of popularity. It has always been a high participation sport, but was slow to be taken seriously, principally because of a lack of professional league. But things have changed.

MLS is still not taken seriously in many parts of the country, but Americans love the Mexican league, the Premier league, La Liga and Bundesliga - in that order. MLS viewing figures are third behind Mexican and English football. The point is that whilst MLS struggles for relevance, the sport certainly doesn't. Soccer TV ratings collectively absolutely dwarf those of NHL and are comfortably better than the NBA.

As for the World Cup, it is absolutely huge and has been so since at least 2006. It's why the USA took more fans to South Africa 2010 than any other country, and were in the top 3 of travelling numbers in Brazil too.

Presumably you are talking about Americans of the USA kind.

From my experience, they love the Premier League (EPL as they call it) more than any other league. The Mexican league might have more viewers because of the time zone at which matches are played and because of availability/cost. There's also loads of Mexicans living in the USA. Of course the USA citizens I've met have mostly been in the UK, and so my sample pot is highly skewed.

Be interested to know if there were any measures about other than viewing figures.

 

[Simster]

Be interested to know if there were any measures about other than viewing figures.

Well we could point to the two MLS clubs that have higher average attendances than Chelsea (or the three others that have sold out smaller 25k stadiums for between 3 and 5 seasons running). Or the fact that 1994 remains the highest attended WC in history, or that friendlies involving the Mexican and European big boys regularly sell out their NFL stadiums. . It's all fairly anecdotal though.

Edit: the most tangible evidence the game is mainstream is probably that SI.com and ESPN both have soccer in their main sports tabs and most (not all) of their newspapers now cover the game as they do other mainstream sports.

 

[seagulls4ever]

Well we could point to the two MLS clubs that have higher average attendances than Chelsea (or the three others that have sold out smaller 25k stadiums for between 3 and 5 seasons running). Or the fact that 1994 remains the highest attended WC in history, or that friendlies involving the Mexican and European big boys regularly sell out their NFL stadiums. . It's all fairly anecdotal though.

I was only talking about whether those from the USA love Mexican or English football more. Football is clearly pretty popular in the USA, although you have to take into account their larger population.