US World Cup delegation in Zimbabwe

THE United States of America, Canada and Mexico have sent their football envoys to Zimbabwe to drum up support ahead of next week's Fifa Congress in Russia when the battle for the 2026 Fifa World Cup will be put to a vote.

The three countries have launched a United Bid to fend off the challenge from Morocco who are vying to bring back the football jamboree to the African soil for the second time after South Africa in 2010.

But the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football countries have teamed up with an ambitious bid with the United States, Mexico and Canada at the forefront to host the first 48-team World Cup.

The four officials, led by Canada FA president Steven Reed, Mexico FA president Decio de Maria, Jim Brown, who is the managing director of the united bid and communications expert Max Gleischman, arrived in the country yesterday.

They are set to meet Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa and other senior Government officials who also include Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo.

They were welcomed by Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda, board member Philemon Machana and Zifa chief executive Joseph Mamutse.

"They have come to present their bid to Zimbabwe. They will meet Zifa president (Chiyangwa) and other Government officials tomorrow (today).

"As Zimbabwe, we haven't made a decision about who to vote for yet. Probably after they had met the president a decision could be made by the Zifa executive committee," said Sibanda.

The United Bid team has been on a whirlwind tour across the world to drum up support.

The campaign trail has seen them making stops in over 170 countries.

Canada FA president Reed said it was necessary to make a combined bid since the 2026 World Cup is expected to be a huge event following the decision by Fifa  to add 16 more teams from 32 to 48 nations.

The trio of the Concacaf countries have since submitted their bid and are confident of upstaging Morocco.

About 23 stadiums are under consideration to stage a record 80 games.

The United States will host 60 of the tournament's matches, with Canada and Mexico hosting 10 games each.

The United States will host all  knockout games from the quarter-finals onwards.

The United Bid is expecting to generate $2.1 billion in ticket revenue, compared to $785 million in Morocco, plus an additional $300 million from TV.

"We are here to discuss the united bid for the Fifa World Cup 2026. So we want to tell them our story about this bid and the quality and merits of our bid and ask for their support.

"We started probably five years ago in considering our bid with the expansion (of the World Cup) from 32 countries to 48 countries.

‘'That's when we came together as presidents of our respective federations because it's difficult for one country to put on an event of that magnitude.

"Mr De Maria, myself and the president of the US federation and our predecessors decided that we will do this as a collaborative effort among the three federations.

"So we started maybe five years ago culminating in the submission of our bid to Fifa about 11 months ago," said  Reed.

The United Bid is chaired by federation presidents of the three countries.

Mexico's De Marcia said they are confident of securing the rights after covering all the continents, with the exception of the Oceania.

"We have been doing trips around the world. We have visited Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the only continent that we didn't visit was Oceania.

"We are going to meet them in Russia at the Congress. So we have been explaining to all the countries, which are close to 170 countries, what our project is, the purpose of our project and I think we have a strong bid.

"We are looking to close it down in Moscow with a presentation to all the confederations on June 10-11.''