Abstract
ABSTRACT On 20 May 1983, the FIFA Executive Committee convened at the Sheraton Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. The last item on its agenda was to determine a host country for the 1986 World Cup. Following presentations by the three final candidates – Canada, Mexico, and the United States – the meeting culminated in what many considered to be a foregone conclusion: the selection of Mexico as host. This paper reconstructs the American bid, from its promising start to its disappointing end. In doing so, it focuses on how American officials sought to influence the game’s foremost decision-makers through a combination of economic attractiveness and diplomatic pressure. It also uses the bid to elucidate the tenuous and often tense relationship between officials in the United States and Zurich, while highlighting the broader decline of American soccer during the 1980s.
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