Canada soccer official Peter Montopoli has just one more visit to make as he promotes the joint North America World Cup bid. Montopoli is headed to Gibraltar to continue garnering support for the combined Canadian, Mexican and US joint bid for the FIFA 2026 World Cup.
Montopoli’s visit to Gibraltar is important as the small nation, ranked 195th in the world, carries the same voting weight as big countries like China and Russia. Montopoli admitted that it has been an intensive six weeks, travelling and doing everything possible for the bid. He seems relieved that it would end on Friday before he travels to Russia the following day, ahead of the congress next week.
Montopoli said on Monday he was in five countries, in efforts to promote the bid. He did not have to do five presentations but handled various tasks, being the point man for Canada in the unified bid.
Canada Soccer Association president Steven Reed and its chief marketing officer Sandra Gage have also been travelling as much as Montopoli, the general secretary of the association. They are heavily involved in fair lobbying ahead of the final vote on June 13 in Moscow. Along with the others on the bid, preparations are in top gear for their final presentation just before the vote. The joint bid, which will see 60 games played in the US and 10 apiece in Canada and Mexico, got higher ratings than Morocco in the bid evaluation stage. They are the favourites to win the bid.