Football: Three-nation bid to host FIFA World Cup on cards

FIFA World Cup Trophy is displayed during an exhibition of Italian Football Federation Trophies and Memorabilia. Photo/Getty Images

The football federations of the United States, Canada and Mexico say they'll make an "historic announcement" on Monday in New York, amid speculation they could mount a joint bid for the 2026 World Cup.

USA Soccer said in a release on Saturday that its president Sunil Gulati, along with Canadian Federation president Victor Montagliani and Mexican Federation president Decio de Maria, will speak at the press conference.

Montagliani is also the president of CONCACAF, football's governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, which is meeting this weekend in Aruba.

Montagliani said this week, in an interview with The Guardian, that a joint bid between the United States, Canada and Mexico was being discussed.

World governing body FIFA is set to designate a host for the 2026 edition - the first to feature 48 teams in the newly approved expanded format - in May of 2020.

The United States organised the World Cup in 1994, while Mexico has hosted the event twice, in 1970 and 1986.

There has been one World Cup hosted by multiple nations - the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea. A joint bid by three countries would be unprecedented.

It could also pose political challenges, given that tensions have risen between the United States and Mexico, since the election of US President Donald Trump, who has called for a wall to be built along the Mexican border.

Other news brewing in CONCACAF is a potential deal to create a "League of Nations" competition for its 41 member federations.

The decision would all but eliminate friendlies for the regions' international teams and is fashioned after UEFA's Nations League, which is set to begin in 2018.