FIFA President Gianni Infantino believes the next edition of the World Cup, scheduled to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, will be a great success despite the enormous challenges, about three months before it kicks off.
Infantino told the Spanish newspaper AS: “The 2026 World Cup will be fantastic, even exceptional. There is unprecedented enthusiasm in the United States, Mexico and Canada.”.
Record demand for tickets
He added: “In 4 weeks, we received more than 500 million ticket requests. This is amazing. We have approximately 7 million tickets, but 500 million requests is an unprecedented number in the history of FIFA or any other organization.”
He continued: “77 out of 104 matches saw more than one million ticket requests, and the rest of the matches are close to this number. We will keep some tickets to release later in the tournament. In the final days, all the stadiums will be completely full; it will be a celebration par excellence. When it was said that football was not highly valued in the United States, this situation has changed.”.
He continued: “The tournament will be a huge success. It will be the first World Cup with 48 teams, 104 matches, 16 cities, and 3 countries. We are facing a huge event. It is more than just a tournament, more than just a sporting competition; it is a social event that the world will stop to watch.”.
World Cup champion predictions
Regarding his prediction for the 2026 World Cup champion, he replied: “Spain is among the top candidates, along with other teams of course. We know how strong Spain is, and the world’s number one ranked team is the most likely candidate to win the World Cup.”.
