One Soccer Nation Founder and CEO Kareem Rae thoroughly enjoyed conducting an interview with Alexi Lalas. Alexi is a distinguished Broadcaster at FOX Sports. Panayotis Alexander "Alexi" Lalas is an American retired soccer player who played mostly as a defender. Lalas is best known for his participation with the United States men's national soccer team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where he was a standout player on the team with his distinctive long beard and hair.
During this brief interview, Alexi and I discussed several topics, including his involvement in the Qatar FIFA 2022 World Cup, the anticipated broadcasting of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, and the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is set to be jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
FOX Sports:
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The Fox Sports name has since been used for other sports media assets.
Qatar FIFA 2022 World Cup:
The 2022 FIFA World Cup was an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations and 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup.
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup:
The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup will be the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football championship contested by women's national teams and organised by FIFA.
2026 FIFA World Cup:
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three North American countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The United States will host 60 matches, including every match from the quarterfinals onward, while neighboring Canada and Mexico will each host 10 matches, making a total of 80 matches.[1] The tournament will be the first hosted by three nations.[2][3] Argentina are the defending champions.
This tournament will be the first to include 48 teams, expanded from 32.[4] The United 2026 bid beat a rival bid by Morocco during a final vote at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow. It will be the first World Cup since 2002 to be hosted by more than one nation. With its past hosting of the 1970 and 1986 tournaments, Mexico will become the first country to host or co-host the men's World Cup three times. The United States last hosted the World Cup in 1994, whereas it will be Canada's first time hosting or co-hosting the men's tournament. The event will return to its traditional northern summer schedule after the 2022 edition in Qatar which was held in November and December of that year.