Spain and Portugal odds-on favourites to host 2030 World Cup after Morocco comes on board
KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: South America’s dream of hosting the centenary World Cup in 2030 has faded significantly after African confirmation that Morocco will join the joint bid from Spain and Portugal.
Uruguay, which hosted the inaugural finals in 1930, has been plotting for many years to bring the World Cup back to the banks of River Plate for the anniversary.
Neighbours Argentina and Paraguay as well as Chile had lined to coordinate in support of a four-way hosting to meet the demands of the new-style 48-team tournament.
However South America’s CONMEBOL confederation, with only 10 members, was always facing a tough challenge trying to persuade a majority of world federation FIFA’s 211 members to vote next year in favour of its proposal.
However the combined votes of Europe (55) and Africa (54) is almost all the way there in support of the Iberian partnership and cross-Mediterranean partner. This would be the first dual-confederation hosting of the men’s World Cup though this summer’s Women’s World Cup is cross-hosting in Australia (Asian confederation) and New Zealand (Oceania).
Approval for Morocco’s involvement has been granted unanimously by the executive committee of the African confederation CAF.
A statement said:
The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Executive Committee unanimously agreed on behalf of African Football to support Morocco’s FIFA World Cup 2030 bid. Morocco recently announced at the 73rd FIFA Congress in Kigali, that it is bidding to host the FIFA World Cup 2030 in partnership with Spain and Portugal.
CAF president Patrice Motsepe said: “The unanimous decision that was taken by the CAF Executive Committee to support Morocco’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2030 means that the bid of Morocco is now the bid of the African Continent.
“We are now focusing on ensuring that Africa once more hosts the FIFA World Cup and are committed to working together with all Football National Associations and Confederations to make this happen.”
The only previous African hosting was the single-country staging by South Africa in 2010.
Talk of an always-unlikely cohosting bid for 2030 by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece is expected to remain mere talk. Serious Saudi ambitions are thought to be aimed at a single-nation hosting in 2034.
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