This time last year, former Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti began to find his stride after leaving the team in late 2018 to lead the Houston 2026 World Cup Bid Committee.

This time next year, he hopes the committee and the city will be preparing to host those World Cup matches, which will be played in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Canada and Mexico will host three games each. The other 10 host cities will be chosen from a pool of 17 American venues which include those in Seattle, Atlanta, Dallas, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

“We’re expecting U.S. Soccer and FIFA to be making a decision on the final 10 cities … at some point this year, so all focus is on that,” Canetti said.

When the United States hosted the 1994 World Cup, nine venues (in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit and New York areas in addition to Chicago, Orlando, Washington, D.C. and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas) were selected.

But the 2026 event will be even larger with the World Cup field set to expand from 32 to 48 teams. The number of games played will increase from 64 to 80.

More Information World Cup hopefuls The 17 U.S. cities that are bidding for 10 spots to host World Cup matches in 2026: Atlanta Baltimore Boston Cincinnati Dallas Denver Houston Kansas City Los Angeles Miami Nashville New York/New Jersey Orlando Philadelphia San Francisco/San Jose Seattle Washington D.C.

Read More

“This isn’t set in stone, but it’s anticipated that we’ll host six matches,” Canetti said.

While the Houston Dash and Dynamo host home games at BBVA Stadium (capacity: 22,000), the committee has proposed NRG Stadium (capacity: 71,995) to host Houston’s matches, although it’s not large enough to be eligible to host any semifinal or final matches.

Canetti and his staff spent 2019 assembling a board of directors, raising private funds to cover the cost of the bid process and developing their plan to differentiate Houston from the other U.S. cities.

In 2020, he’s expecting to receive more detail that outlines when meetings and site visits to Houston will occur.

“We’re waiting to hear from them in terms of what the guidelines may be on a site visit. How long will they be here? Will they be here a day, two days, three days? What do they expect to do and see when they’re in town?” he said. “Based on that information, we’ll be able to draft and develop an entire itinerary for them to showcase the city. It’s hard to say exactly what that entails until we know what the expectations are.”

Canetti’s optimism is partly rooted in the city — and NRG Stadium’s — hosting experience.

Houston hosted more major international soccer games in the U.S. (six) than any city but Los Angeles last year, including the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals. NRG Stadium has hosted two Super Bowls, two Final Fours and an MLS All-Star Game. And the city will host CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying matches at BBVA this week.

“I think you want to show that you’ve got a proven track record of success and Houston has that without a doubt,” he said. “We can say with certainty that we’ve been there, we’ve done that in a successful way and in a way where promoters of major events continue to go back to Houston and want to put on their events here.”

glynn.hill@chron.com

twitter.com/glynn_hill