While it was always a formality, U.S. Soccer has one fewer thing to worry about as FIFA has confirmed that Canada, Mexico, and the United States have all qualified for the 2026 World Cup as host nations. The trio being awarded spots means that four teams will come out of Concacaf qualification for the expanded 48 team tournament. It will only drop to four because one host nation already qualifies with the other two being deducted from the federations spots.
That means that the allocation through qualifying will now be set as four spots to AFC, four to CAF, four to Concacaf, six to COMENBOL, one to OFC, and 12 to UEFA. Further details will be announced at a later date about the qualifying competitions for all federations.
During this announcement, it was also included that the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup will take place in Saudi Arabia from Dec. 12-22 2023. It's an announcement that was coming but firms up official plans ahead of the 2026 World Cup. With Mexico appointing Diego Cocca as their head coach, the United States are now the only host nation without a coach currently although someone is expected to fill the role starting in the summer of 2023.
