The 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico after their joint bid beat Morocco’s proposal to host the prestigious tournament.

The ‘United 2026’ bid by the North American countries was selected by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) member nations, winning 134 votes against  Morocco’s 65.

The 2026 tournament will be the biggest World Cup ever held – with 48 teams playing 80 matches over 34 days.

Of the 211 FIFA member nations, 200 cast a vote at the 68th FIFA Congress held in Moscow, the Russian capital on Wednesday morning, with the winning bid needing a majority of 104.

Canada, Mexico, Morocco and the US were exempt, while Ghana was absent after the country’s government said it had disbanded its football association amid allegations of widespread corruption.

Three US territories – Guam, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were among the other member nations to not vote.

Although both Mexico (1970 and 1986) and the United States (1994) have previously hosted World Cups, Canada only staged the Women’s World Cup in 2015.

Of the 16 host cities, 10 will be in the United States while the remainder will be split evenly between Canada and Mexico. Sixty matches will take place in the US, while Canada and Mexico will host 10 games each.

The final will be held at the 84,953-capacity MetLife Stadium, which is home to National Football League (NFL) sides, the New York Giants and the New York Jets.

The distance between the most northern host city (Edmonton) and the most southern (Mexico City) is almost 3,000 miles, which compares to 1,900 miles at this month’s tournament in Russia.

The tournament will mark the first time a World Cup has been shared by three host nations.

The 1994 World Cup, staged by the US, had the highest average attendance in the tournament’s history, while Mexico was the first nation to host the event twice.

Speaking after the announcement of the hosting nations, the Morocco Football Federation president, Fouzi Lekjaa said: “I wish to congratulate FIFA for the conduct of this process and congratulate the president for what he has done in order to move things towards more transparency and more inclusion.

“I would like to reaffirm the determination of my country to continue to work for football and realize one day our dream to host the World Cup in Morocco.”