The only thing that will prevent the United States from winning the right to co-host the 2026 Fifa World Cup finals would be a “crazy action” by President Donald Trump, according to a top sports executive.
Mexico, Canada and the US will make a joint bid for the 48-team tournament and are firm favourites ahead of Morocco, which announced its challenge last month. Under the trio’s bid, the US would host 60 of the 80 matches - including the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
The Guardian reports that sports business boss Charlie Stillitano, the man behind the International Champions Cup, believes America's only perceived weakness is its president.
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Speaking at the Soccerex convention in Manchester, Stillitano said: “Every day I wake up and I see our president has made a new tweet. The only thing that could possibly derail [the bid] is some crazy action on the part of our government, but I can’t even imagine that.
“It’s ours to lose. I can’t imagine we won’t have the World Cup. I saw [US Soccer Federation president] Sunil Gulati and he was almost gleeful in talking about how this was going to be by far the most profitable World Cup.
“All the stadia are done already, all the highways are done, the train stations are done. The hotels are there in the cities. I talked to contacts within Fifa, Uefa, Concacaf and Conmebol and I think it’s almost a given that it’s going to be in the US. I’d be shocked if they lost.”