2026 World Cup: Key Matches Likely Hosted By Washington DC

WASHINGTON, DC — Some of the matches in the 2026 World Cup are likely to be played in the Washington, D.C., area, a coup for any city that hosts the soccer tournament loved by billions of fans worldwide. Baltimore would host at M&T Bank Stadium and Washington, D.C. could also host matches, although technically it would be in Maryland at FedEx Field in Prince George's County.

Soccer fans learned Wednesday that a joint bid by the United States, Canada and Mexico had won the right to host the wildly popular tournament eight years from now. The so-called United Bid by the three North American countries beat out a bid by Morocco to host the games. Click here to see how the 134-65 vote played out at the 68th FIFA Congress ahead of the start of the 2018 World Cup in Russia on Thursday.

Cities will compete with each other to land host rights and will likely be selected on how much they promise to invest in soccer outside of the World Cup, reports Yahoo.

The official bid book submitted to FIFA names Atlanta and Dallas as the committee’s preferred semifinal hosts, and MetLife Stadium in northern New Jersey as the likely site of the final. Other semifinal candidates are Washington D.C. (FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland) and Boston (Foxborough Stadium).

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Some Redskins fans and DC sports reporters are wondering if the possibility of hosting World Cup games will be the impetus that lands the NFL team a new stadium.

But the prospect of even more traffic leaves some DMV residents cold.

While not binding, the bid by North America also said that Atlanta or Dallas could act as an international broadcast center for the entire tournament. As the home to CNN, arguably the world's most global news network, Atlanta seems a logical choice for that duty.

The 2026 World Cup will have 48 teams playing a total of 80 games — 60 will be played in the United States. and 10 each in Canada and Mexico.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson said 23 North American cities — 17 in the U.S and three each in Canada and Mexico — are in the running to host World Cup matches. They include Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Edmonton, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Monterrey, Montreal, Nashville, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Toronto.

The North American "bid book" says the number of U.S. cities will be cut down to 10 by 2021. Each U.S. city would host at least five matches, reports Business Insider.

An economic analysis by a Boston consulting firm estimates that host cities for the games could reap benefits of up to $500 million for doing so.

Photo courtesy Atlanta United FC