When the United States, Mexico, and Canada’s United Bid won the rights to host the 2026 World Cup last week, there was a ton of excitement all across North America that the world’s biggest tournament was returning to these shores. The 23 cities under consideration to become host venues also welcomed the general enthusiasm among fans about securing the bid. However, thoughts quickly shifted to this question: will all 3 nations automatically qualify for the World Cup as the host nations?
Before now, that question was an easy yes. The nations that hosted the World Cup received automatic bids to the tournament.