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Spain, Portugal, Morocco to host 2030 FIFA World Cup

Madrid, Oct 5 (EFE).- World football’s governing body, FIFA, has announced that Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will organize the 2030 World Cup, subject to the approval of its congress next year after the countries emerged as the sole joint bidders for the tournament.

Three matches of the World Cup will also be held in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay as part of the tournament’s centenary celebration, the soccer body confirmed on Wednesday after its meeting held by videoconference from the home of FIFA in Zürich.

FIFA said it made the decisions “following extensive consultation with all confederations and given the importance of marking the centenary of the FIFA World Cup,” held in Uruguay in 1930.

Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will qualify directly for the competition, whose candidacy as organizers must be ratified by the 2024 FIFA Congress.

FIFA highlighted that “in 2030, the FIFA World Cup will unite three continents and six countries, inviting the entire world to join in the celebration of the beautiful game, the centenary, and the FIFA World Cup itself.”

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that “in a divided world, FIFA and football are uniting” and noted that “the FIFA Council, representing the entire world of football, unanimously agreed to celebrate the centenary of the World Cup, whose first edition was played in Uruguay in 1930, in the most appropriate manner.”

“A celebration will take place in South America and three South American countries, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, will organise one match each of the FIFA World Cup 2030,” he said.

“The first of these three matches will of course be played at the stadium where it all began, in Montevideo’s mythical Estádio Centenário, precisely to celebrate the centenary edition of the FIFA World Cup.”

The 2030 World Cup will be the second in which 48 teams will participate after FIFA expanded the tournament from 32 teams in the next edition, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 2026.

Spain hosted the World Cup in 1982 and unsuccessfully opted to host the competition in 2018, which was held in Russia.

Portugal and Morocco will be the organizers for the first time.

The Moroccan Federation presented its candidacy for the event for the last time for the 2026 edition, which it lost to the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

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