LAST UPDATE | 4 Oct 2023
THE 2030 Fifa World Cup will be hosted across three different continents for the first time ever.
Fifa have today announced that all those seeking to bid for the tournament have joined up to form a single, unopposed bid that will sprawl across the world to an extent like never before.
Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will be the primary hosts, but there will be a group stage game played in each of Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina to mark the centenary of the competition. The first game will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, the city which hosted the very first World Cup game back in 1930.
The decision to combine the bids was taken at a meeting of the Fifa Council today, and will be ratified by a vote at Fifa Congress next year. Fifa say Spain, Portugal and Morocco will qualify automatically for the tournament, but did not say whether the three South American sides will be guaranteed a slot at the event.
“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”, said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
Fifa have also said they are accepting bids from the Asian and Oceania confederations to host the 2034 World Cup. Within an hour of Fifa’s statement announcing this fact, Saudi Arabia announced their intention to bid for this edition of the tournament.
Their bid “intends to deliver a world-class tournament and will draw inspiration from Saudi Arabia’s ongoing social and economic transformation and the country’s deep-rooted passion for football”, said a statement from the Saudi Arabian football federation.
Elsewhere, Fifa have followed in Uefa’s footsteps in lifting a ban preventing Russian teams from competing in the Fifa U17 World Cup. Fifa say the teams must play under the name ‘Football Union of Russia’ rather than ‘Russia, in neutral colours, and their games cannot feature the Russian flag, the Russian national anthem.
In a statement, the Fifa Council “reiterated its condemnation of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and confirmed that the remaining terms of the decision made on 28 February 2022 remain in force until the end of the conflict.” Russia hosted the 2018 World Cup, and Gianni Infantino received a Medal of Friendship from Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in 2019. When asked in February of last year, Infantino declined to say whether he returned the medal.
The FAI last week issued a statement saying they would refuse to play a game against a Russian U17 side.