-Montagliani wants region to take advantage of opportunity

CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani has asserted the confederation is looking to fill eight spots at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Canada, United States and Mexico.

The ambitious plan could come to fruition as a part of a unique set of circumstances that surround the competition.

As hosts of the tournament Canada, Mexico and the United States will automatically be granted spots.  The situation will leave the region’s normal three and a half spots available to CONCACF’s other teams.  In addition, however, because it won the bid to host the tournament, Concacaf will receive another half spot.  Half spots are confederation playoffs between teams, which sees the winners advancing to the tournament.

According to Montagliani, a major part of the confederation’s focus will be on ensuring the region is able to take full advantage of the situation.

“What has been confirmed is that we have six direct spots and then we have a half a spot, which means we go to a playoff.  Now, because we also won the bid and we won the right to host the World Cup, we gained another half a spot.  So, that means we have six plus two halves,” Montagliani explained to the SportsMax Zone in an interview on Monday.

“I’ve been very clear that one of the reasons we are investing in the League of Nations, expanded Gold Cup and all the things that we are doing is because we really want to set that bar that we have eight CONCACAF nations at the 2026 World Cup if we can win those play-off spots.”(Sportsmax)