Morocco, Portugal and Spain to jointly host World Cup 2030

ISTANBUL - Spain, Portugal and Morocco will jointly host the 2030 World Cup, Fifa said on Wednesday.

"The Fifa Council unanimously agreed that the combined bid of Morocco, Portugal and Spain, which will host the event in 2030, qualify automatically from the existing slot allocation subject to the completion of a successful bidding process conducted by Fiifa and a decision by the Fifa Congress in 2024," it said, according to the Anadolu Agency.

Fifa said the council unanimously agreed to host a unique centenary celebration ceremony in Uruguay's capital of Montevideo and three matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

Fifa’s President Gianni Infantino said the first of the three matches will be held in Montevideo's Estadio Centenario, which hosted the majority of matches during the first World Cup in 1930.

In Kuala Lumpur, the Moroccan embassy, in a statement to Bernama, said Fifa’s decision is a huge recognition to Morocco and its people.

It noted that King Mohammed VI announced Morocco’s joint candidacy with Spain and Portugal to host Fifa World Cup 2030 in Kigali, Rwanda, on March 14.

"The King noted in his message that this joint candidacy - unprecedented in the history of football - will be that of the junction between Africa and Europe, between the north and the south of the Mediterranean, and between the African worlds Arab and Euro-Mediterranean.

"The Sovereign also specified that this candidacy will be that of bringing together the best from both sides, and the demonstration of an alliance of genius, creativity, experience and means,” the embassy said. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU