Las Vegas will host the 2026 World Cup draw on Dec. 5, multiple sources have told ESPN.
Sources told ESPN that Vegas is the chosen city after venues in Canada and Mexico were ruled out for the newly expanded tournament, which will be played with 48 teams instead of 32 across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Pachuca executive Pedro Cedillo, who is campaigning for Mexico to be the site for World Cup training camps, recently told ESPN he expected the draw to take place in Vegas.
“December 5th, if I’m not mistaken, is precisely the day the draw takes place, or at the beginning of December,” he said.
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“I understand it will be in Las Vegas, and that’s where we need to be present to provide information about the city of Pachuca, the state of Hidalgo, and the two venues we have.”
In 1994, when the United States last hosted the World Cup, the draw was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. But that venue, along with others, are already booked for Dec. 5.
Sources have told ESPN that the front-running venue is The Sphere, which opened two years ago, features a 54,000 square-meter screen and has capacity for 17,500 people.
ESPN Mexico’s Omar Flores Aldana and Ricardo Cariño contributed to this report.
