Canada men's coach John Herdman got straight to the point: World Cup, here we come. And not just the 2026 men's tournament that Canada is co-hosting with Mexico and the U.S.

The joint North American bid of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. — branded "United 2026" — is favoured to come out on top over rival bidder Morocco, with FIFA member countries set to vote Wednesday.

Qualification would come as a welcome surprise for millions across the war-torn country, while boosting President Bashar Assad in his aspirations to project strength and normalcy on the world stage.

The six Arab countries who last month cut ties with Qatar are reported to have reminded FIFA that they consider the Gulf state to be a "base of terrorism."

A new wage system aimed at ensuring Qatar's migrant workers get paid their salary on time won't go into effect until November, even though it was planned to be in place this week.

The chairman of Football Federation Australia says bidding for the 2022 World Cup awarded to Qatar was not clean, explaining in an extraordinary open letter Wednesday how he felt Australia never had a chance to be given hosting rights.

FIFA vice-president Michel Platini has criticized a British newspaper for linking him to corruption claims about Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid.