The United States Soccer Federation submitted a bid with the hope of hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup. U.S. Soccer first said in February 2007 that it would put forth a bid for the 2018 World Cup. On January 28, 2009, U.S. Soccer announced that it would submit bids for both the 2018 and 2022 Cups. In October 2010 it withdrew from the 2018 bid process to focus on winning the 2022 edition. On December 2, 2010, it was announced that Qatar would be the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

David Downs, president of Univision Sports, was executive director of the bid. The United States previously hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994, as well as the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1999 and 2003.

Schedule DateNotesJanuary 15, 2009 Applications formally invitedFebruary 2, 2009Closing date for registering intention to bidMarch 16, 2009Deadline to submit completed bid registration formsMay 14, 2010Deadline for submission of full details of bidSeptember 6–9, 2010Inspection committee visits the United StatesDecember 2, 2010FIFA to appoint hosts for 2018 and 2022 World Cups

Bid committee

The American bid was being organized by USA Bid Committee, Inc.

The executive director of the bid was David Downs, CEO of Univision sports. Other members include U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, Phil Murphy, the former national finance chair for the Democratic National Committee, former U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clinton adviser Douglas Band, film director Spike Lee, former boxer Oscar De La Hoya, and Washington Post. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton served as the honorary chairman of the bid.

Details of the bid

In April 2009, the U.S. identified 70 existing, fully built stadiums in 50 communities as possible venues for the tournament, with 58 confirming their interest. The list of stadiums was trimmed two months later to 38 existing venues, one scheduled for completion in 2010, and one proposed venue. On August 20, 2009, the list was further trimmed down to 32 stadiums in 27 cities. On January 12, 2010, the USA Bid Committee narrowed the 27 cities down to 18 as the official host cities for the United States' Bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

Those 18 cities were: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C. The 18 stadiums selected primarily host NFL or NCAA American football games, with a capacity over 65,000 spectators, although they are also designed to host soccer. No soccer-specific stadium was selected, since their capacity does not exceed 30,000 spectators.

Candidate venues

* – Stadium that would go on to be used in the 2026 FIFA World Cup † – American football team. Although sponsored stadium names are listed in this article, they were not used in the actual bid documents, and would not be used during the World Cup. FIFA controls all naming rights related to the World Cup, and generally prohibits the use of such names. Even stadiums that bear the names of FIFA sponsors are subject to this restriction—the venue then known commercially as Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg was known by its non-commercial name of Ellis Park Stadium during the 2010 World Cup, even though The Coca-Cola Company is one of FIFA's main sponsors. Capacities listed are estimated capacity for the FIFA World Cup.

Rejected venues The following venues were considered as possible candidate venues but were not chosen to be included in the final bid.

August 2009 cut The following stadiums were eliminated in an earlier cut in August 2009

June 2009 cut The following stadiums were eliminated in an earlier cut in June 2009

Denied interest in hosting Source: Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia; 1996 Summer Olympics soccer venue Jordan–Hare Stadium, Auburn, Alabama Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Lane Stadium, Blacksburg, Virginia Kyle Field, College Station, Texas Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, Utah Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana Beaver Stadium, State College, Pennsylvania Bryant–Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Official bid partners Fox Soccer Channel AT&T American Airlines The Walt Disney Company Chevron Corporation Kohl's Subway Restaurants

Aftermath The American bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup lost the hosting rights to Qatar on the fourth round of voting by 14 votes to 8, although exact vote counts were never publicly released by FIFA at the time, in keeping with the then-secret ballot system. The decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup was immediately mired in controversy, with widespread allegations of corruption, bribery, and improper conduct related to the bidding process.

These concerns were later central to what became known as the 2015 FIFA corruption case, where U.S. and Swiss authorities indicted and arrested numerous FIFA officials on charges including racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. The U.S. Department of Justice revealed that more than $150 million in bribes had been paid to secure commercial rights and influence decisions—including host selection—over several decades.

The United States would later be awarded the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosting rights in a joint bid with Canada and Mexico on June 13, 2018 at the 68th FIFA Congress held in Moscow, Russia. The United bid comfortably defeated the rival bid from Morocco by 134 votes to 65.

Notes and references

External links U.S. Soccer Official bid site