SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KRON) — The Bay Area is making its case to be a host for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
This weekend, the Bay Area Host committee will welcome FIFIA officials to Levi’s Stadium for a site visit as part of the Bay Area’s bid to be a host city for the World Cup.
The San Francisco 49ers, a coalition of Bay Area businesses (Airbnb, Google, Lyft, Salesforce, etc.) and political leaders (including Mayor London Breed, Mayor Sam Liccardo and Mayor Libby Schaaf) will come together to showcase the Bay Area.
The 2026 World Cup will be hosted across 16 cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Currently, 22 cities are being considered across the three countries and host cities are expected to be announced in early 2022.
FIFA officials will tour Levi’s Stadium and assess both the stadium’s capabilities to be a host venue as well as the region as a whole.
“The excitement and community spirit unique to the Bay Area has been directed at soccer for generations, going back to the FIFA World Cup matches the area hosted in 1994 and 1999, which were a huge success,” Al Guido, 49ers President and Bay Area 2026 Board President, said. “There’s no doubt in my mind the 2026 FIFA World Cup would inspire an even bigger response, and we’re honored to be leading the Bay Area’s bid to host this exciting, crowd-drawing event. Levi’s Stadium is a world-class venue that has shown it’s capable of hosting premier national and global events, and we would be a fantastic stage for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”
In addition to corporate partners and community leaders, the Bay Area bid is also supported by the Bay Area Legislative Caucus, a local body of expert policy makers and officials who oversee various municipalities and represent the residents of the region in government in the California Legislature.