AFP, Mexico City :
Mexico’s football federation announced on Friday that it will launch a bid to host the World Cup for a record third time in 2026.
The bidding process was suspended last year amid the furore over FIFA’s corruption scandal, but the world football body’s new president, Gianni Infantino, has vowed to relaunch it within his first three months at the helm.
“Mexico will be present as a candidate when the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup opens,” Mexican federation president Decio de Maria said at a news conference to unveil the national squad’s new jersey for the 2018 tournament’s qualifiers.
“Hosting the biggest party in the world is a very important organizational commitment, and the majority of Mexicans would feel very proud to have a third World Cup,” De Maria said.
Mexico hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cups, which were won by Pele’s Brazil and Maradona’s Argentina, respectively.
The United States and Canada are also expected to bid for the 2026 World Cup, which will come four years after the 2022 tournament in Qatar, which has been tainted by corruption allegations.
De Maria had indicated in 2013 that Mexico might make a joint bid with the United States, but he suggested on Friday that it will be a solo candidacy.
Nations from the North and Central American and Caribbean confederation, or CONCACAF, may a good shot at hosting the 2026 tournament because they have not been picked for a while, with the United States getting it in 1994.
