2026 World Cup: a "fair, objective and transparent bidding process" (Gianni Infantino, FIFA)

"I have been dealing with the evaluation of bids for over 20 years, in several different capacities, and I challenge anyone to point out an organisation that conducts a bidding process as fair, objective and transparent as the one that FIFA is carrying out for the 2026 FIFA World Cup," said Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, following the bid book submissions of the two candidates, Morocco and the trio of Mexico, Canada and the United States, on 26/03/2018. 

The winning bid will be announced at the 68^th FIFA Congress in Moscow (RUS) on 13/06/2018, on the eve of the opening match of the 2018 World Cup (read below). This is the first time that the Congress, which brings together the 211 national federations, will choose an organising country for the competition in which 48 teams will be participating (instead of 32 since the 1998 edition).

"The 2026 Bid Evaluation Task Force will now carry out an assessment process, including visits to the respective member associations. The dates of these visits will be communicated in due course, and the resulting bid evaluation reports, like…