2023-10-04 17:27:06
FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Zurich (Switzerland), October 4, 2023. FIFA / VIA REUTERS
The International Football Federation (FIFA) announced, Wednesday October 4, in a press releasethat the 2030 edition of the World Cup would be jointly organized by Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
An agreement between the European, African and South American confederations also provides that three meetings will take place in Argentina (in Buenos Aires), in Uruguay (in Montevideo) and in Paraguay (in Asuncion) to mark the centenary of the first edition, which was organized in Uruguay in 1930. The twenty-fourth edition of the World Cup will therefore be held on three continents and six countries, a first.
The football body must still validate the technical criteria and will not officially ratify this decision until the end of 2024, but the approval « unanimous » of this file, the only candidate, by the FIFA council, leaves no doubt.
The announcement promises a complex political and logistical setup and numerous questions around the environmental impact of major sporting events, shortly after the organization in Qatar of a World Cup which had already raised many questions.
End of the rivalry between the two favorites
Wednesday’s announcement puts an end to the announced rivalry between two favorites, a joint candidacy from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay, and a European ticket long led by Spain and Portugal.
A year ago, with the support of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), these two countries included Ukraine in their file, ensuring they wanted to launch “a message of solidarity and hope” and pay tribute to “tenacity and resilience” of a country partly occupied by the Russian army since February 2022. But this highly political team has not been confirmed since and Morocco, five unsuccessful candidates to host the tournament, entered the dance in mid -March, without it being specified what would happen to Ukraine.
Read also: Football: why Morocco is teaming up with Spain and Portugal to host the 2030 World Cup
The agreement between UEFA and its African (CAF) and South American (Conmebol) counterparts ratifies both the withdrawal of Ukraine and that of the initial Argentina-Chile-Uruguay-Paraguay project, in exchange for a concession major symbolism.
According to FIFA, a “centenary ceremony” will indeed be held “at the stage where it all began”in Montevideo, at the time when the event brought together thirteen teams in the same host city – compared to thirty-two during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and forty-eight from the 2026 edition in the United States, Canada and in Mexico.
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