November 11 – The general secretary of the Canadian FA, Peter Montopoli, is leaving to become chief operating officer of his country’s co-hosting of the 2026 World Cup with the USA and Mexico.
By Paul Nicholson
October 19 – Football in Canada is crossing a threshold. With a Gold medal at the Olympics for the women’s team and the men’s team showing they are real contenders for a 2022 World Cup slot, there is a positivity you can almost touch coming from the country that so often lives in the sporting shadow of the US, and, in football terms, Mexico.
October 19 – 2026 World Cup bid city Houston has launched plans for a Soccer Innovation Institute as part of its Spirit of Houston campaign and legacy programme.
October 14 – Next week, FIFA scrutineers will return to conduct World Cup 2026 bid city inspections, visiting all of Kansas City, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Monterrey, San Francisco and Seattle.
October 7 – World Cup 2026 bid city Houston kept their focus on the hosting prize with the launch the ‘Spirit of Houston’ campaign yesterday marking the start of the campaign with a social ‘roadblock’ that saw organisations and indivduals share the campaign launch video.
September 24 – FIFA has completed its first round of visits to 2026 World Cup host city candidates, with inspections of Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando, Washington DC, Baltimore, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia and Miami.
September 24 – 2026 World Cup host bidder Houston has announced a $6 million campaign to support Houston 2026’s Grow the Game initiative which aims at providing underserved communities access to football. The initiative launches as FIFA’s host city bid inspections gather pace in the US.
September 10 – The host city selection process for the 2026 World Cup moves on a stage next week with FIFA beginning its inspection visits September 15-23.
July 18 – Baltimore-Maryland’s 2026 FIFA World Cup Host City bid has been given a boost in local authority support with the State of Maryland’s Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford and Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott being appointed in co-chair roles.
July 7 – Montreal has withdrawn its bid to be a host city of the 2026 World Cup, leaving Edmonton and Toronto as the only two Canadian applicants.
June 26 – Houston’s bid to be one of the US cities selected to host the 2026 World Cup was given a boost last week after it was named in the top 10 ‘Americas Cities of the Future’.
June 11 –Houston, which is preparing to host Concacaf Gold Cup matches next month, is looking further ahead with its bid to be one of the final 10 host cities in the US for the 2026 World Cup.
June 10 – Baltimore-Maryland’s 2026 World Cup host bid has been bolstered by the signing of a partnership agreement with the Football for Peace Foundation (FFP), with the aim of creating new youth and community development programmes across Maryland through international cultural exchange initiatives.
June 9– Edmonton in Canada, one of the candidate venues for the country’s three World Cup 2026hosting slots, is reporting a significant uptick in support for the event in the city.
By Paul Nicholson
May 14 – With FIFA’s World Cup 2026 venue inspection team in full flow in terms of briefing, meeting and assessing potential city hosts, Baltimore on the East coast is one of 17 city hopefuls jostling for a final 10 host slot.