The city of Montréal has withdrawn from the pool of possible Canadian host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it was announced Tuesday.
The tournament, which will include 48 nations for the first time, is being jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. With the decision, Edmonton and Toronto remain as Canadian candidate host cities before the group of 16 North American municipalities gets locked in.
“We thank the city of Montréal for their participation in the bid process and look forward to continuing our collaboration with the respective municipal and provincial governments along with the Government of Canada in support of the selection of Edmonton, Alberta and Toronto, Ontario as host cities for the FIFA World Cup 2026,” read a statement from Canada Soccer.
As for why Montréal has backed out, costs to taxpayers were cited by Quebec government officials. Vancouver also previously removed itself from consideration.
Last winter, FIFA stated it planned to appoint host cities by the last quarter of 2021.
