The vote for who will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place in Moscow on Wednesday, June 13 during the 68th FIFA Congress as the North American bid and Morocco go head-to-head.
Below is a breakdown on exactly how the voting system will work, as FIFA’s 206 member associations able to vote (Morocco, USA, Canada and Mexico are unable to vote as their bidding to be hosts) will decide which bid wins. 104 is the magic number.
There is also the small chance of both bids failing if enough votes are made for the third option on the ballot which is “None of the Bids – Reopen Bidding Process” as both the North American and Moroccan bid will lose and bids from other continents will be able to make a future bid to host the 2026 tournament.
Some projections have this being a close run thing with the joint U.S.-Canada-Mexico bid just ahead of Morocco but not having over 50 percent of the vote in the opening round, thus meaning a second round of bidding will take place. Whichever option has the most votes in a simple majority at the end of the second round will win the right to host the tournament.
Okay, with a little help from FIFA’s guidelines on the revamped bidding process, here we go…
How the voting process to select the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosts will work
- The question to be put to the 68th FIFA Congress in connection with the vote shall be: “Do you want to award the right to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup
final competition to the bid submitted by the Moroccan Football Association, to the joint bid submitted by the CSA, FEMEXFUT and the USSF (“United Bid”), or to none of them (thus reopening the bidding process, excluding the four member associations having already submitted a bid)?” - Voting may be conducted by electronic means. In this case, the possible votes are: “Moroccan Football Association Bid”; “United Bid”; or “None of the Bids – Reopen Bidding Process.”
- If a FIFA Congress member does not vote for any of these options, this shall be counted as an abstention. The result of each ballot and the related votes by the members of the FIFA Congress shall be made public on immediately after the conclusion of the Congress.
- The result will be announced immediately after the vote has been conducted by showing it on the screen at the FIFA congress.
- In accordance with art. 69 par. 2 (d) of the FIFA Statutes, if fewer than three bids are presented to the Congress, a simple majority (more than 50%) of the valid votes cast is required for a decision on the host. In accordance with art. 11 par. 1 of the Standing Orders of the Congress, invalid votes or electronic votes manipulated in any other way as well as abstentions are to be disregarded when calculating the simple majority.
- If one of the two bids obtains a simple majority in the first ballot, it shall be awarded the right to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The other bid shall be deemed to be rejected by FIFA. This decision is final.
- If the third option (“None of the Bids – Reopen Bidding Process”) obtains a simple majority in the first ballot, both of the aforementioned bids are deemed to be rejected and the second phase of the Bidding Procedure shall be initiated (thus reopening the bidding process, excluding the four member associations that have already submitted a bid).
- If none of the above three options obtains a simple majority, and the number of votes for the option “None of the Bids – Reopen Bidding Process” is equal to the number of votes for the aforementioned bids taken together, both of the bids shall be deemed to be rejected and the second phase of the Bidding Procedure shall be initiated. The proceedings relating to the agenda item of the 68th FIFA Congress on the designation of the host country of the 2026 FIFA World Cup shall be concluded.
- If none of the options presented to the 68th FIFA Congress reaches a simple majority, and the number of votes for the aforementioned bids taken together is higher than the number of votes for the option “None of the Bids”, a second ballot shall be conducted. The question to be put to the 68th FIFA Congress in the context of the second ballot shall be: “Do you want to award the right to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ final competition to the bid submitted by the Moroccan Football Association or to the joint bid submitted by the CSA, FEMEXFUT and the USSF (“United Bid”)?”
- A simple majority (more than 50%) of the valid votes cast is required for a decision to be taken in the second ballot. If the second ballot should result in an equal number of votes for both bids, the bid that received the highest weighted average score in the technical evaluation report shall prevail.
