The final tournament in 2030 will be held in Spain-Morocco-Portugal, with some matches in South America, then it will be Saudi Arabia’s turn in 2034.
The World Cup is in Messi’s possession
The fact that the locations of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups had been decided is nothing new. But now it’s official: Spain, Morocco, Portugal and part of South America (Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) will host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Then, it will be the turn of Saudi Arabia, four years later. The double decision was taken by the vote of a virtual congress of the international football federation. There was no suspense.
A World Cup century, scored in Uruguay
The 2030 tournament will mark a century since the first World Cup was held in Uruguay and as a result the competition will also see the South American nation join Argentina and Paraguay. It is a completely unprecedented bid involving three different continental confederations. FIFA confirmed more than a year ago that the joint bid led by Morocco, Spain and Portugal was the only one for 2030, with all other potential bids losing out.
A joint British and Irish bid was abandoned when the two nations decided to focus on Euro 2028, while there were suggestions of a failed bid from South Korea, China, Japan and North Korea.
World Cup 2034
As for 2034, FIFA invoked the principle of rotating the flagship tournament between certain continents, only accepting bids from Asia or Oceania. The body gave potential bidders just one month last year to submit applications, and Australia and Indonesia quickly dropped their interest. That left Saudi Arabia as the only contender, paving the way for the final tournament to return to the Gulf region after Qatar hosted it in 2022. Dreadful summer temperatures in the northern hemisphere could push the tournament back later in the year, as happened in 2022.
