FIFA World Cup: Morocco, Portugal, Spain to host 2030 edition

Ayomikun Elemikan Sports 04/10/2023

The 2030 men’s soccer World Cup will hold in three different countries across two continents – Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

On Wednesday, world football governing body FIFA reached an agreement between soccer’s continental leaders to accept a bid led by co-hosts Spain, Portugal and Morocco as the only candidate for the hosting rights.

The 2030 World Cup will be hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain (Image: FIFA World Cup on X)

The agreement also includes staging the first three games in South American countries: Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to celebrate the tournament’s 100th anniversary in Uruguay.

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Expected to host the opening game is the Uruguayan capital city of Montevideo, where the Centenario Stadium hosted the inaugural 1930 World Cup final.

Initially, plans were to have a joint bid by Spain and Portugal before Morocco was included earlier this year.

According to FIFA, all the six host nations will automatically qualify for the 48-nation tournament.

It is the first time the World Cup will be played on more than one continent.

2030 World Cup to be hosted in six countries

“The centennial World Cup could not be far from South America, where everything began,” said Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American soccer body CONMEBOL.

Morocco, Portugal and Spain’s bid has been accepted by FIFA and is expected to be approved at the FIFA Congress next year (Image: Daily Post)

“The 2030 World Cup will be played in three continents.”

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Also agreed during the meeting was the eligibility of only member federations from Asia and Oceania to bid for the 2034 World Cup hosting rights.

Australia and Saudi Arabia have entered that contest and to host the 2034 World Cup.

With all of these, FIFA Council’s acceptance of a three-nation 2030 candidacy still needs formal approval next year. This will be at a meeting of the 211 member federations. However, the expected approval should be just a formality.

“In 2030, we will have a unique global footprint, three continents — Africa, Europe and South America — six countries — Argentina, Morocco, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay — welcoming and uniting the world while celebrating together the beautiful game, the centenary and the FIFA World Cup,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.