On 16 June 2022, FIFA announced the 16 cities and stadiums that will host the FIFA World Cup 2026™ – to be held across three countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States. The tournament promises to be one of the greatest and most diverse celebrations of all time with matches hosted in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, Monterrey, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver.
FIFA is committed to ensuring that the tournament has a positive and lasting impact. This is why human rights have been a key consideration from the outset. FIFA’s new human rights requirements for tournaments, which were developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and with the technical support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, were implemented for the first time for a major event during the bidding process for the World Cup in 2026. As part of the bidding process, host countries and Host Cities were required to commit, amongst other things, to their obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and to develop respective strategies.
Over the past two years, human rights have also featured in the host city selection process. FIFA required candidate host cities to engage with local stakeholders and develop detailed human rights plans.
The documents and reports below explain the human rights due diligence carried out by FIFA and the Host Cities during the bidding process. They also include qualitative assessments of the human rights processes and reports produced during the bidding process by the successful Host Cities, as conducted by an independent assessor on behalf of FIFA. FIFA greatly appreciates the contribution of all national and city-level stakeholders that have supported FIFA and the candidate host cities during the selection process.
As the documentation indicates, with the selection process complete, FIFA is initiating and leading the next phase of human rights due diligence for the tournament, which will focus on enhanced stakeholder engagement and the development of a common achievement framework for the Host Cities.