MOSCOW

The 68th FIFA Congress will be held here on Wednesday when the delegates of member associations vote to select the host of the 2026 World Cup from two approved bids – Morocco and the North American joint bid of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

All 211 of the world soccer governing body’s member associations receive one equally-weighted vote, and a simple majority is required for the winner, which means 106 votes in its favor.

The 2026 World Cup will involve a expanded format, with 48 teams contesting a total of 80 matches, compared to the 32 teams and 64 matches of the upcoming World Cup in Russia.

FIFA has insisted on having an impeccable selection process to choose the country or countries that will host the new and upgraded tournament, and a Bid Evaluation Task Force was set up last October to examine the details of the bids.

FIFA said in a press release, “When the candidates submitted their Bid Books, these were made public for all to see. In the same spirit of transparency, we decided to also make public the criteria and the scoring system that has guided the evaluation report.”

According to the bid evaluation report released by FIFA, the North American joint bid received a score of 4.0 out of 5.0 while Morocco’s bid scored 2.7 out of 5.0.

Out of 20 categories of potential risk, Morocco scored low in just seven, medium in 10 and was marked high for stadiums, accommodation and transport. The North American bid scored low in all but three (medium risk for organizing costs, government support, and human rights and labour standards).

The United States hosted a men’s World Cup in 1994, and Mexico boasted twice, in 1970 and in 1986. The men’s World Cup has never been held in Canada or Morocco.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will kick off here on Thursday without the U.S. national team which failed to qualify from the CONCACAF zone.