Can each country host the World Cup?

The FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world. A lot of countries have the potential to host it. Like, a whole lot. So, the question is, "Can each country host the World Cup?"

Most sections assume one country will host the World Cup.

All scenarios are set in 2022.

Venues in bold represent the host city and venue of each final.

Previous hosts since 2002

The reason I say "before 2002" is that stadiums come and go all the time. This article asks if a country is capable of hosting the World Cup today, not in 1990 or 1970.

Qatar

Of course, Qatar hosted the World Cup in 2022. Despite this, it may seem clear that it was just for the money and not for the football. All eight stadiums were situated in and around the capital Doha:

Qatar (2022 FIFA World Cup)
City	Stadium	Capacity
Al Khor	Al Bayt Stadium	68,895
Lusail	Lusail Stadium	88,966
Al Rayyan	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	45,032
	Education City Stadium	44,667
	Khalifa International Stadium	45,857
Doha	Al Thumama Stadium	44,400
	Stadium 974	44,089
Al Wakrah	Al Janoub Stadium	44,325

Russia

Russia hosted the tournament in 2018. This was the first edition in Eastern Europe.

Russia (2018 FIFA World Cup)
City	Stadium	Capacity
Moscow	Luzhniki Stadium	78,011
	Otkritie Arena	44,190
Saint Petersburg	Krestovsky Stadium	64,468
Sochi	Fisht Olympic Stadium	44,287
Volgograd	Volgograd Arena	43,713
Rostov-on-Don	Rostov Arena	43,472
Nizhny Novgorod	Nizhny Novgorod Stadium	43,319
Kazan	Ak Bars Arena	42,873
Samara	Solidarnost Samara Arena	41,970
Saransk	Mordovia Arena	41,685
Kaliningrad	Rostec-Arena	33,973
Yekaterinburg	Yekaterinburg Arena	33,061

Confirmed hosts

Saudi Arabia

I'm very sure FIFA president Gianni Infantino really wanted the World Cup to be in Saudi Arabia. Sportswashing and greed, perhaps?

Potential hosts

By potential, this asks, "Can the countries host by themselves?" We know Canada, the United States, and Mexico are hosting the 2026 tournament, but what if only one of them will host instead? Same goes for 2030 hosts Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

Australia

An Australian World Cup would definitely work. Looking at the failed 2022 bid, the stadiums would be:

Australia
City	Stadium	Capacity
Melbourne	Melbourne Cricket Ground	100,024
Sydney	Accor Stadium	82,000
	Allianz Stadium	45,500
Perth	Optus Stadium	60,000
Adelaide	Adelaide Oval	53,500
Brisbane	Suncorp Stadium	52,500
Newcastle	Newcastle International Sports Centre	33,000 -> 42,000
Townsville	1300SMILES Stadium	26,500 -> 40,000
Canberra	GIO Stadium Canberra	25,011 -> 40,000
Gold Coast	Heritage Bank Stadium	25,000 -> 40,000
Blacktown	Blacktown International Sportspark	41,000
Geelong	GMHBA Stadium	40,000

Canada

Canada does have potential to host the World Cup, though they'll have to do some work on the stadiums they'd use.

Canada
City	Stadium	Capacity
Toronto	National Stadium (concept)	80,000
	BMO Field	45,736
Edmonton	Commonwealth Stadium	56,302
Montreal	Olympic Stadium	56,040
Vancouver	BC Place	54,500
Calgary	McMahon Stadium	46,020
Winnipeg	IG Field	40,000 (expanded from 32,344)
Regina	Mosaic Stadium	40,000 (expanded from 33,350)

China

China definitely has enough stadiums to host the World Cup.

China
City	Stadium	Capacity
Beijing	National Stadium	91,000
	Workers' Stadium	65,094
Guangzhou	Guangdong Olympic Stadium	80,012
Hangzhou	Hangzhou Sports Park	80,000
Shanghai	Shanghai Stadium	72,000
Taiyuan	Shanxi Sports Centre Stadium	62,000
Nanjing	Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre Stadium	61,443
Dalian	Dalian Sports Centre Stadium	61,000
Shenzhen	Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre Stadium	60,334
Hefei	Hefei Olympic Sports Center Stadium	60,000
Fuzhou	Haixia Olympic Center	59,562
Tianjin	Tianjin Olympic Center	54,696

Egypt

If Qatar can host the World Cup, Egypt can as well. Their recently-opened largest stadium seats well over 90,000 people—well over the minimum capacity for the final.

Egypt
City	Stadium	Capacity
New Administrative Capital	New Administrative Capital Stadium	93,940
Alexandria	Borg el-Arab Stadium	86,000
Cairo	Cairo International Stadium	75,000
	30 June Stadium	40,000+ (expanded from 30,000)
	Al Ahly WE Al Salam Stadium	40,000+ (expanded from 30,000)
	Cairo Military Academy Stadium	40,000+ (expanded from 28,500)
	Osman Ahmed Osman Stadium	35,000
Suez	Egyptian Army Stadium	45,000

England

Is it not obvious? England is the home of football. The Premier League is also the world's most popular sports league by far.

England
City	Stadium	Capacity
London	Wembley Stadium	90,000
	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	62,850
	Emirates Stadium	60,400
Manchester	Old Trafford	74,310
	Etihad Stadium	53,400
Liverpool	Everton Stadium (2025)	52,888
Newcastle upon Tyne	St James' Park	52,257
Sunderland	Stadium of Light	49,000
Birmingham	Villa Park	42,530
Sheffield	Hillsborough Stadium	39,732 -> 43,946
Leeds	Elland Road	37,608 -> 51,240
Milton Keynes	Stadium MK	30,303 -> 44,000

India

Though India is more of a cricketing nation, football is still prevalent. India has hosted plenty of events in a magnitude like this. As of the time I'm writing this, the 2023 Cricket World Final will take place in Ahmedabad in the world's largest stadium.

India
City	Stadium	Capacity
Ahmedabad	Narendra Modi Stadium	132,000
Kolkata	Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan	68,000
Raipur	Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium	65,000
Delhi	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	60,000
Hyderabad	Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium	55,000
Thiruvananthapuram	Greenfield International Stadium	55,000
Mumbai	DY Patil Stadium	55,000
Lucknow	Ekana International Cricket Stadium	50,000
Nagpur	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium	45,000
Kochi	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	40,000
Chennai	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	40,000
Pune	Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium	37,406 -> 40,000+

Indonesia

Indonesia has just the right amount of stadiums with a capacity of 40,000 or more.

Indonesia
City	Stadium	Capacity
Jakarta	Jakarta International Stadium	82,000
	Gelora Bung Karno Stadium	77,193
Surabaya	Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium	46,806
Banda Aceh	Harapan Bangsa Stadium	45,000
Pekanbaru	Riau Main Stadium	43,923
Jayapura	Lukas Enembe Stadium	40,263
Makassar	Barombong Stadium	40,000
Balikpapan	Batakan Stadium	40,000

United States

The United States has a lot of stadiums that can suit World Cup games. Heck, we'll even ask if individual states can host such a tournament.

United States
City	Stadium	Capacity
Dallas	AT&T Stadium	105,000
Los Angeles	SoFi Stadium	100,240
New York	MetLife Stadium	82,566
Houston	NRG Stadium	72,220
Atlanta	Mercedes-Benz Stadium	71,000
Nashville	Nissan Stadium	69,143
Seattle	Lumen Field	68,740
Bay Area	Levi's Stadium	68,500
Boston	Gillette Stadium	65,878
Philadelphia	Lincoln Financial Field	67,594
Miami	Hard Rock Stadium	64,767

California

Cali is the biggest state by population, and they've got great football culture. A World Cup in California could be successful.

California
City	Stadium	Capacity
Los Angeles	SoFi Stadium	100,240
	Rose Bowl	92,542
	LA Memorial Coliseum	77,500
San Francisco Bay Area	Levi's Stadium	68,500
	California Memorial Stadium	63,000
	Stanford Stadium	50,424
San Diego	Snapdragon Stadium	55,000 (expanded from 35,000)
Fresno	Valley Children's Stadium	40,727

Texas

It's no secret that everything is bigger in Texas, including football culture (sort of) and stadiums. In fact, three stadiums can seat over 100,000 people (one of which can expand from 80,000 seats to fit 105,000 people). So, naturally, we came up with a hypothetical Texan bid for hosting the World Cup.

Texas
City	Stadium	Capacity
Dallas	AT&T Stadium	105,000
	Cotton Bowl	92,100
College Station	Kyle Field	102,733
Austin	DKR Texas Memorial Stadium	100,119
Houston	NRG Stadium	72,220
	TDECU Stadium	40,000
San Antonio	Alamodome	64,000
Lubbock	Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field	56,200
El Paso	Sun Bowl	51,500
Waco	McLane Stadium	45,140

Disqualified

The following countries may never host the World Cup for now, ever again (if they ever hosted), or at all.

Singapore

Singapore is a city-state, so it might be impossible to completely host the World Cup. It can participate in a joint bid with Malaysia, since its national stadium sits 55,000.

San Marino

San Marino is too small, alongside the fact that the national team is perhaps the worst international side, having won only once and conceded an average of 4.2 goals per game. Their national stadium seats 6,664 fans, which is way too low for a World Cup stadium (min 40,000).

Other countries

Country	Reason
Bonaire	Too small and not a FIFA member.
French Guiana	Not a FIFA member.
Guadeloupe	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Kiribati	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Martinique	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Monaco	Too small and not a FIFA member. At least AS Monaco FC compete in Ligue 1.
Prussia	Died.
Northern Mariana Islands	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Palau	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Réunion	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Saint Martin	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Sint Maarten	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Soviet Union	Died.
Tuvalu	Too small and not a FIFA member.
Vatican City	Way too small.
Zanzibar	Not a FIFA member. May be a bit too small.
Zaire	Died. Good riddance.