Since the 2018 FIFA Congress picked the United States, Mexico, and Canada to host the 2026 World Cup—officially known as the United bid—, the three North American countries have been working to deliver the next edition of the most prestigious football tournament in the globe.
The 2026 World Cup will become the first to include 48 competing teams, expanded from 32. Despite the confusion around the unconfirmed tournament format, the three hosting countries do not need to build new stadiums —unlike the 2022 Qatar World Cup preparation process— but instead, some stadia will take the chance to upgrade their installations, including Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, Arlington's AT&T Stadium and Toronto's BMO Field.
The Canadian stadium needs to almost triple its seats in order to meet FIFA's minimum capacity requirements: stadiums must have at least 40,000 seats, while those hosting quarter-finals must have a minimum of 60,000 and, finally, those fields where the opening ceremony or final will take place must have a capacity of at least 80,000 seats.
