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Montreal withdraws bid to host FIFA World Cup 2026

The announcement of this decision was made after the local government in Quebec rejected the federation’s plea for funding.

The Canadian city of Montreal has officially backed out from the selection process to be named as one of the host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The announcement of this decision was made after the local government in Quebec rejected the federation’s plea for funding. The local government cited heavy losses suffered due to the ongoing pandemic as the major reason for the refusal of funds. As a result of the Covid-19 crisis, the state was in no position to release further funding to the sports federation.

Montreal’s Olympic Stadium was the city’s proposed venue. Now with Montreal and Vancouver already out of the running, Toronto and Edmonton remain the sole Canadian host cities for the showpiece global football event.

Canadian Soccer released an official press statement regarding this issue which said, “Canada Soccer acknowledges that the City of Montréal, Québec has announced that they will not continue the selection process as a candidate host city for the FIFA World Cup 2026.”

It further added, “We thank the City of Montréal for their participation in the bid process and look forward to continuing our collaboration with the respective municipal and provincial governments along with the Government of Canada in support of the selection of Edmonton, Alberta and Toronto, Ontario as host cities for the FIFA World Cup 2026.”

16 different cities across 3 countries are listed to co-host the World Cup in 2026. The confirmation of the list will be communicated by FIFA by the end of the year. Originally, the US was projected to have 10 host cities, while Canada and Mexico shared honours with 3 cities each. The Mexican cities in contention to host the matches are Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey.

Now with Montreal’s withdrawal, it will be interesting to see whether the US will have 11 host cities. 

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