FIFA has announced the host nations of the 2030 World Cup, with games set to be played across six countries in three different continents.
Football’s governing body reached an agreement between the continental leaders to accept the joint bid of Spain, Portugal, and Morocco as the only candidate for hosting. The agreement also included holding the opening games in South American countries Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The key lure of opening the tournament in South America is to hold the first game in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, where the inaugural World Cup final was played in the Centenario Stadium.
This will allow the tournament to celebrate its 100th anniversary in Uruguay.
It will be the first time in World Cup history that the tournament will be hosted in more than one continent.
“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.
The hosting plan includes travelling across multiple time zones and large distances, including a 13-hour flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Madrid, Spain.
All six host nations will gain automatic qualification for the 48-team tournament, which is scheduled to take place in June and July of 2030.
By locking in the 2030 host nations, FIFA has fast-tracked the opening of the bidding process for the 2034 World Cup, an event that will only be held in Asia and/or Oceania as the previous two tournaments will be played across the four other continents.
Australia is interested in hosting the event after co-hosting a successful Women’s World Cup earlier this year with New Zealand.
This isn’t the first time Australia has been interested in hosting. They withdrew their bid for the 2018 tournament, and failed to land the 2022 World Cup, which was played in Qatar.
Australia is a part of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) but the confederation’s president, Bahraini royal Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has stated a clear preference.
“The entire Asian football family will stand united in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s momentous initiative,” Sheikh Salman said.
Saudi Arabia will host the 2027 AFC Asia Cup which was confirmed earlier this year.
Photo: FIFA World Cup Trophy by Daniel available HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.
