ZURICH: A study delegation world football federation will launch the first venue visits to the 2026 candidate host cities next Wednesday.

The initial tour, following a series of fact-finding video interactions, will last nine days, with visits to Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando, Washington DC, Baltimore, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia and Miami.

The remaining US bidding venues, as well as those in Canada and Mexico, will be visited by the end of November.

The overall delegation will be led by Victor Montagliani, a FIFA vice-president and head of regional confederation CONCACAF.

The ‘team’ will include FIFA technical specialists experts across multiple fields, including venue management, stadium and city infrastructure, team facilities, commercial, bidding and legal.

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