With final applications for 2026 World Cup bids due Friday, last week's restructuring of the group working to bring the tournament to North America indicates the joint U.S.-Mexico-Canada campaign may be in trouble.
In a letter to FIFA's 200-plus member associations, the three-nation United Bid Committee announced that former U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati will no longer chair the effort. Instead, Steve Reed of Canada Soccer, Decio de Maria of the Mexican federation, and Carlos Cordeiro, the newly elected USSF president, will serve as co-chairs. Gulati will remain on the committee's board of directors.
The change was apparently inspired by two things: Cordeiro's desire to become more visible in the effort to bring the World Cup back to the continent for the first time in 32 years and the need to sell the bid as something other than a U.