FL To Host 2026 World Cup Matches

FLORIDA — Miami will serve as a host city for the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup. FIFA made the announcement during a news conference in New York City on Thursday evening.

Orlando and Miami were among the 22 candidate host cities eagerly hoping to stage matches for the 48-team tournament hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States — both firsts for a FIFA World Cup.

Orlando, however, did not make the cut.

According to FIFA, these are the cities that will host the next World Cup matches: Vancouver, Canada; Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California; Guadalajara, Mexico; Kansas City, Missouri; Dallas, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas; Monterrey, Mexico; Mexico City, Mexico; Toronto, Canada; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Miami, Florida; New York, New York.

“During the past months we have had open exchanges with the candidate host cities on a number of different topics. We are very thankful and impressed by how dedicated and innovative they all are,” said FIFA’s Chief Tournaments & Events Officer, Colin Smith.

“The host cities will be absolutely key to ensuring the successful delivery of the competition. We look forward to working with them to deliver what will undoubtedly be the largest FIFA World Cup in history.”

Orlando hosted five games in the 1994 tournament when the U.S. was the sole host country, according to the News Service of Florida.

A handful of U.S. cities and states had lined up with tax breaks and millions of dollars in both public and private investments for a chance at hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup games, according to the Associated Press.

The prize is a share of what FIFA expects to be more than $5 billion in short-term economic activity generated from the tournament throughout North America.

FIFA's calls for tax breaks and other funding assistance led cities including Minneapolis, Chicago and Glendale, Arizona, to drop out of the running in 2018.

Meanwhile, lawmakers and city officials elsewhere, however, appeared more willing to make concessions, the AP said.

In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation eliminating sales taxes on tickets for World Cup soccer matches.

While it's still four years away, the 2026 World Cup will be the largest in history.

The U.S. will host 60 of the 80 games under FIFA’s plan, including all from the quarterfinals on, according to the Associated Press.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story said that Orlando would serve as a host city. That was inaccurate. Patch regrets the error.