Kazan: Football Federation Australia will throw its support behind the World Cup returning to North America, with the organisation set to vote for the tri-nation bid to host the 2026 tournament.
Fairfax Media understands FFA has decided to vote for the joint Mexico, USA and Canada bid at the FIFA congress in Moscow on Wednesday.
Northern exposure: FFA chief David Gallop and chairman Steven Lowy are expected to vote for the North American bid.
Photo: James Brickwood
Sources suggest FFA chairman Steven Lowy and chief executive David Gallop, both attending the 68th Congress, are set to vote for North America hosting the tournament instead of the only other bidding nation, Morocco.
It is understood FFA's support of the tri-nation bid stems from their belief that it is a superior option from a technical and logistical view, while close social and political ties between Australia and the US will have eased their decision.
Under the proposal, the US will host 60 of the 80 games at the expanded tournament, with Mexico and Canada each hosting 10 matches. The final venues are yet to be determined. The US has lodged 17 preliminary venues and there are three each from Canada and Mexico.
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Should the CONCACAF bid succeed, it will be the second time the US has hosted the tournament after staging the World Cup in 1994, the third for Mexico (1970 and 1986) and a first for Canada, who have never qualified but hosted the 2015 Women's World Cup successfully.
With FFA adding its support, the North American bid already boasts 28 confirmed backers as opposed to 20 for Morocco, with 163 nations still to announce their intended vote. The joint bid will have the support of the overwhelming majority of the CONCACAF nations who, although small in stature, represent 38 votes at the Congress.
All 10 South American nations are also reportedly supporting the North American bid while the 55-nation strong UEFA appears to be backing Morocco, which has never hosted a World Cup despite bidding for the 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010 tournaments. Morocco has hosted several other FIFA tournaments including two Club World Cups (2013 and 2014) and four major continental championships.
The bid process is the first under FIFA's reforms that provide all of its members with a single vote each, with all votes to be made public after the winner is declared.
The reforms were made by FIFA president Gianni Infantino after allegations of corruption surrounding the previous World Cup voting process that awarded Russia the 2018 tournament and Qatar the 2022 hosting rights.
Under the previous format, only the inner sanctum of FIFA's executive committee voted on the World Cup hosts and all votes remained private.
The 2026 World Cup is set to be the first of the FIFA's controversial expanded tournaments. The event will feature 48 teams, with 16 groups of three nations. The current World Cup format of 32 teams in eight groups of four has existed since the 1998 tournament in France.
While FIFA has flagged fast-tracking the expanded format for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, those talks appear to have stalled and will be put on hold.
Dominic Bossi is a football reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald.
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