Not looking forward to waking up at 5am to watch the about-to-start FIFA World Cup in Russia? If you can hold out another eight years, a much more welcoming championship soccer schedule is set to arrive on our coast.
Canada, Mexico and the United States were chosen today to jointly host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Of the 80 matches slated, 10 will be held in Mexico as well as 10 in Canada, which leaves 60 games to be spread out among American cities.
In the initial bid book assembled by the three countries, Los Angeles is prominently featured as one of the potential host cities—and, given the fact that it’ll be gearing up to host the Olympics two years later, seems like a no brainer. The Rose Bowl in particular has been pitched as L.A.’s venue of choice, though the under-construction football stadium in Inglewood (slated to open in 2020) is also mentioned in a footnote. It wouldn’t be the first time the World Cup comes to the Rose Bowl; the Pasadena stadium hosted the final in 1994, when the quadrennial championship was last held in the U.S. (unfortunately, the 2026 final would likely be held at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium).
So for those keeping track, Los Angeles will host the MLB All-Star Game in 2020, Super Bowl LVI in 2022, the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2023, the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in 2028.