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The United Bid Committee, which is attempting to secure the hosting rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, announced Wednesday that it has compiled a list of 32 cities across the United States, Mexico and Canada that could serve as host cities for the tournament. Representatives from the 32 cities, which were whittled down from an initial list of 41 applicants, will meet in Houston during the week of Nov. 13 to finalize documents and come up with a strategy for winning the hosting rights. The list contains four cities from Canada, three from Mexico and 25 from the United States. "As we move to the next stage of the bid process, we're even more confident we have everything needed to deliver the largest, most compelling FIFA World Cup in history and help accelerate the growth of soccer across North America and around the world," said United Bid Committee chairman Sunil Gulati. "We have more than double the number of cities required to stage matches in 2026. We have a vision for growing the game and engaging fans as never before," said Gulati, who also serves as president of the U.S. Soccer Federation. "Our biggest challenge will be finding ways to honor the enthusiasm of all the people across Canada, Mexico and the United States through the development of our united hosting concept." The official host city selection process took into account various factors including city profiles, stadiums, support facilities (training sites and hotels) and services such as transportation. The United Bid Committee also looked at ways each city could contribute to furthering the sport's development, including the social, economic and environmental legacy. Each of the 32 potential host cities features existing or already planned stadiums and other infrastructure that meets or exceeds the requirements outlined by FIFA. The following cities from the original list of 41 were not selected: Birmingham, Alabama; Cleveland; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, Florida; New Orleans; Ottawa, Ontario; Pittsburgh; Regina, Saskatchewan; and San Antonio. The United Bid Committee stressed that non-host cities will be considered for such tasks as being possible locations for team base camps or other noncompetition-related events leading up to the tournament. The list of selected cities is below. United States: Atlanta; Miami; Baltimore; Minneapolis; Boston; Nashville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina; New York/New Jersey metro area; Cincinnati; Orlando, Florida; Chicago; Philadelphia; Dallas; Phoenix; Denver; Salt Lake City; Detroit; San Francisco Bay Area; Houston; Seattle; Kansas City, Missouri; Tampa, Florida; Las Vegas; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles Canada: Edmonton, Alberta; Montreal; Toronto; Vancouver, British Columbia Mexico: Guadalajara, Jalisco; Mexico City; Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
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