“FIFA sacrifices its “ideals” to its economic interests”

2023-10-05 17:57:29
The Centenario stadium in Montevideo, which hosted the first match in the history of the World Cup on July 18, 1930, will be the scene of one of the matches of the 2030 edition. NICOLAS GARCIA / AFP

The announcement came to everyone’s surprise on Wednesday October 4: the 2030 edition of the World Cup will be jointly organized by Morocco, Spain and Portugal, while three meetings will take place in South America, revealed the International Football Federation (FIFA). Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will each host a match, the first of which will be played at the Centenario stadium in Montevideo, the venue which hosted the first match in the history of the competition, on July 18, 1930.

A unique formula which “will unite three continents and six countries”, welcomed the body. This, however, is far from unanimous. “FIFA continues its cycle of destruction of the biggest tournament in the world”, reacted on X (formerly Twitter) the Football Supporters Europe associationdeploring an organization « horrible » for fans and “without consideration” for the environment. In a press releasethe latter also criticizes the federation for having carried out « the red carpet for a guest [l’Arabie saoudite] for 2034 whose human rights record is appalling”.

For Kévin Veyssière, founder of the media FC Geopolitics and author of Football Club Geopolitics: 22 unusual stories to understand the world (Max Milo editions), the choice of the instance is “as a logical continuation of the decisions that have been taken in recent years”.

There were two candidacies to organize the 2030 World Cup: the South American one, led by Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile, and the Spain-Portugal duo, to which Morocco was added. How did we arrive at this compromise?

Internal political considerations at FIFA, and financial considerations, were decisive in this choice. Organizing a World Cup with 48 teams, as will be the case from the 2026 edition, costs between 20 billion and 30 billion dollars. The South American countries were probably not strong enough to bear such an expense, which pushed them to accept a compromise in which they only got a handful of matches.

Read also: How Morocco became co-host of the 2030 World Cup

Claudio Tapia, the president of the Argentine Football Federation, also recognized that it was impossible for the South American bid to obtain the necessary investments to organize an event of such importance. In reality, the revealed project seems to suit everyone. The Asian Confederation seems aggrieved, but FIFA, by inviting the countries of Asia and Oceania to submit their candidacy for 2034, places Saudi Arabia in the ideal position to obtain it. This country is ready to invest unlimited resources in football to transform its image internationally, as its recent investments in the player transfer market have shown.

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