World football governing body, FIFA, has announced an unprecedented formular for the 2030 edition of the World Cup, which will see the tournament held across three different continents, Africa, Europe and South America.
“The FIFA Council unanimously agreed that the sole candidacy will be the combined bid of Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, which will host the event in 2030 and qualify automatically from the existing slot allocation subject to the completion of a successful bidding process conducted by FIFA and a decision by the FIFA Congress in 2024,” FIFA said in a statement.
The opening three matches will however take place in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, and all six hosting countries’ teams will automatically qualify to compete in the global showpiece.
“In a divided world, FIFA and football are uniting,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
The 2030 edition will also mark 100 years since its inception. The World Cup was first held in Uruguay in 1930.
“The FIFA Council, representing the entire world of football, unanimously agreed to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup, whose first edition was played in Uruguay in 1930, in the most appropriate way.”
Seems like FIFA are headed to a future where the tournament will be co-hosted by different countries. The competition was traditionally held by a single country, though that changed in 2002 when Japan and South Korea hosted jointly.
The 2026 edition will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the US, the first time three nations will run the competition.
In 2030 the global showpiece will return to Africa (Morocco) after being held in South Africa in 2010. Morocco became the first North African side to reach the semifinals of the World Cup, in Qatar in 2022.
Fifa has also called for bids for the next edition, in 2034, with the Asian and Oceanic confederations taking part in accordance with the tournament’s continental rotation principle.
Saudi Arabia, which had set its sights on the 2030 World Cup, confirmed that it would bid to host the 2034 tournament.
