By Andrea Shalal and Frank Pingue
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump will announce on Friday that Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington will host the 2026 World Cup draw, a source familiar with the plans said.
Trump foreshadowed the news earlier Friday, when he announced that the World Cup 2026 would have an office at the premier arts venue located in the heart of the nation’s capital.
“The World Cup’s going to have its primary office in the Kennedy Center,” Trump told reporters in Washington.Trump’s announcement comes as he oversees a $257 million renovation at the Kennedy Center, which Trump has said will be a centerpiece of the 250th U.S. anniversary celebrations next year. The 2026 World Cup being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico will be the first with 48 teams and will feature 104 matches.
Canada will host 13 games, including 10 in the group stage split evenly between Toronto and Vancouver. Mexico will also get 13 games, including 10 during the group stage in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The rest of tournament will be held in 11 cities across the United States.FIFA, global soccer’s governing body, has already put boots on the ground in the United States in preparation for the quadrennial spectacle having set up field offices in Miami and at New York’s Trump Tower.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington and Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
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