Malta amongst the 134 countries which voted for the United bid to host World Cup 2026

NYTimes: Malta was among the 134 countries which voted to award the hosting rights to a World Cup in 2026 to the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Bloc voting by the regional confederations was expected, and indeed many votes largely reflected the location of the bid countries. Nearly every federation in Africa voted for Morocco and all but one of the South American and Caribbean federations, Brazil, voted for the North American bid. The race was won in Europe and Asia, which both broke overwhelmingly for the North American bid.

The United bid had been the front-runner and was the one that FIFA, soccer’s governing body, had ranked higher in a report that noted, “The amount of new infrastructure required for the Morocco 2026 bid to become reality cannot be overstated.”

Wednesday’s vote to award the hosting rights to a World Cup was the first since 2010. That vote sent this year’s tournament to Russia and the 2022 event to Qatar, but also produced widespread accusations of bribery and vote tradingand, eventually, a sprawling criminal investigation.

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