Spain, Portugal and Morocco will organize the 2030 World Cup

The European, African and South American football confederations agreed on a single bid for the world–2030presented by Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with three matches in South America, FIFA announced this Wednesday.

For the centenary of its first edition in Uruguay, the world men’s soccer “will unite three continents and six countries,” indicates the governing body of soccer, which must still validate the technical criteria and will only officially award the competition at the end of 2024.

But with the “unanimous” approval of this unique dossier by the FIFA Council, the path seems clear for this unprecedented intercontinental format, promising a complex political and logistical setup and with numerous questions surrounding the environmental impact of major sporting events.

This Wednesday’s announcement puts an end to the announced rivalry between the two favorites, a joint candidacy of Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay, and a European option supported by Spain and Portugal.

A year ago, with the support of UEFA, the two countries included Ukraine in their candidacy, stating that they wanted to send “a message of solidarity and hope” and pay tribute to “the tenacity and resilience” of a country occupied by the Russian army from February 2022.

But this coupling of a markedly political nature was not finalized later, and Morocco, five times not chosen to host the tournament, entered the dance in mid-March, without it being specified at that time what would happen to Ukraine.

The agreement between UEFA and its African (CAF) and South American (CONMEBOL) counterparts simultaneously ratifies the withdrawal of Ukraine and that of the initial Argentina-Chile-Uruguay-Paraguay project, in exchange for an important symbolic concession.

According to FIFA, a “centennial ceremony” will indeed take place in the stadium “where it all began”, in Montevideo, at the time when the tournament brought together 13 teams in the same host city – compared to the 32 in the world-2022 in Qatar and 48 starting with the 2026 edition in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

On the other hand, Montevideo, Asunción and Buenos Aires will each host a match of the worldalthough the bulk of the matches will be played in the three main organizing countries.