FIFA considering having 4 countries co-host 2026 World Cup

Published Feb. 16, 2017 6:49 p.m. ET

Aaron West

The 2026 World Cup could be split across four countries if FIFA have their way.

On Thursday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced that soccer's governing body would encourage applications to co-host the tournament.

"We will encourage co-hosting for the World Cup because we need FIFA to show we are reasonable and we have to think about sustainability long-term," said Infantino.

"(We could) ...maybe bring together two, three, four countries who can jointly present a project with three, four, five stadiums each. We will certainly encourage it. Ideally the countries will be close to each other."

Infantino's statements could lend credence to the idea of the United States, Canada and Mexico co-hosting the 2026 tournament in triplicate, but with international relations in flux, security concerns, and the overall logistics of a three-country tournament, it's far from a simple ask.

Still, the idea evidently has support from a number of nations, including Sweden's FA chair Karl-Erik Nilsson, who supported the idea of co-hosting for the World Cup.

"It's a good idea, and Europe has of course previously worked in this way on the European Championships," said Nilsson.

"We are used to it and it works well, it makes it possible for more countries to arrange (tournaments), and in that way it is positive."

The only other World Cup that's been co-hosted was the 2002 tournament held in Japan and South Korea, and that was largely deemed a resounding success. With FIFA expanding the tournament format to 48 teams, it's no surprise they're interested in doing the same for the hosting of the competition as well.