The American city, the home of national governing body US Soccer, withdrew from contention after criticising FIFA for asking for major financial guarantees without promising a huge return on investments as part of its hosting requirements.

Vancouver, whose B.C Place Stadium staged the 2015 Women's World Cup final, was dropped after failing to reach an agreement with the United 2026 Bid Committee.

In a statement, Tourism Minister Lisa Beare confirmed their bid had not been accepted, claiming the province of British Columbia "cannot agree to terms that would put British Columbians at risk of shouldering potentially huge and unpredictable costs".

A similar statement was released by Matthew McGrath, a spokesman for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who said world football's governing body "could not provide a basic level of certainty on some major unknowns that put our city and taxpayers at risk".

Minneapolis also pulled put of the running for financial reasons.

"The inability to negotiate the terms of the various bid agreements did not provide our partners, and our community, with sufficient protections from future liability and unforeseen changes in commitments," the city's Bid Committee said.

Charlotte in North Carolina, Glendale in Arizona, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Tampa also failed to make it to the next stage of United 2026's selection process.

A total of 23 cities were chosen by United 2026 as part of their official submission to FIFA, which came on the eve of the March 16 deadline.

It includes 17 in the US, such as 2028 Olympic and Paralympic host city Los Angeles, Boston, Houston, New York and Washington D.C.

Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver, Dallas, Kansas City, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle are the other American cities on the list.

Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto in Canada were given the green light to proceed, along with the Mexican cities of Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey.

FIFA will cut the 23 down by a further seven to 16 if the joint bid is chosen to host the 2026 tournament.

Those behind the bid are touting the fact that they would not need to build any new stadiums as their list is made up of existing venues, many of which host National Football League and Major League Soccer matches.

This is not the case for Morocco - the other country in the 2026 bid race - who will have to construct venues if they are awarded the hosting rights.

Morocco are yet to reveal concrete details of their bid, although these are expected to be announced during a press conference in Casablanca on Saturday (March 17).

"Canada, Mexico, and the United States have joined together to deliver a united bid that offers FIFA and its Member Associations the power of unity, the promise of certainty, and the potential of extraordinary opportunity,” said bid executive director John Kristick. 

“We are confident that the combination of our 23 existing world-class stadiums, 150 existing elite training facilities, and our modern and interconnected transportation network can help FIFA to achieve new records for attendance and revenue, which will allow the entire global football community to improve and grow.”

FIFA will discuss the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup during a Council meeting in Bogotá in Colombia tomorrow.

The host for the 2026 event is due to be decided at the FIFA Congress on June 13, the day before the start of the 2018 tournament in Russia.

Should the Congress fail to select a host country, FIFA will reopen the bidding.