Why is the FIFA World Cup 2026 being held in three countries?

If you’re a football fan, the craze around the FIFA World Cup 2026 has probably taken over your life.

From next week, the biggest World Cup in history will unfold across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

But why is the tournament being held in three countries? Al Jazeera breaks it down.

Initially, the US, Canada and Mexico announced plans to field individual bids for the 2026 World Cup hosting rights. But later they opted to join hands, presenting themselves with the slogan “United As One”.

In 2017, the football associations of the North American trio officially announced their alliance, calling it the “United Bid”.

A year later, at FIFA’s 68th Congress in Moscow, Russia, FIFA’s member associations cast votes, and ultimately the United Bid won 67 percent of the 200 votes.

With that, history was made, as FIFA announced a World Cup would be held in three countries for the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history.

FIFA’s decision to expand the participation pool from 32 to 48 teams, and subsequently add an extra knockout round, meant the 2026 tournament is set to feature a whopping 104 matches, the most in the World Cup’s history and 40 more than the total at the 2022 edition in Qatar.