The 2030 FIFA World Cup will be the 24th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The 2030 World Cup will mark the centennial World Cup competition. For the first time, three countries from two continents will host the competition, with Spain, Portugal, and Morocco as host nations. Additionally, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the FIFA World Cup, in particular the first World Cup in Uruguay. The first game, alongside a special centenary celebration, will be held in the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay. The second and third games will be held in Argentina and Paraguay, respectively. The rest of the games and the opening ceremony will be held in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. ^[2] This will be the first World Cup held in Africa since 2010, in South America since 2014, as well as in Europe since 2018.

Host selection

FIFA launched the bidding process in 2022. ^{[3] [4]} As hosts of the 2022 and 2026 editions respectively, the 2030 FIFA World Cup cannot be hosted by a member of the Asian AFC or the North American CONCACAF. ^{[5] [6]}

Hosts are required to have at least fourteen all-seater stadiums with a capacity of 40,000, with a minimum of seven being pre-existing. The opening match and final must take place in an 80,000-seat stadium, while the semi-finals must take place in a 60,000-seat stadium. ^[7] Hosts must also have at least 72 suitable training site options for team base camps, four suitable venue-specific training site options per stadium, in addition to two suitable referee base camp training site options, all with suitable accommodation. ^[7] The FIFA Council also regulates requirements relating to broadcasting sites, competition-related event sites, as well as accommodation. In addition, sustainability, environmental protections and human rights will also be factors considered by the council, along with governmental support, the organisational model to be used, besides provisions for the establishment of a "legacy fund". ^{[7] [8]}

Teams

Qualification

All six host nations will qualify for the World Cup. ^{[2] [9] [10]}

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Total times qualified	Last time qualified	Current consecutive appearances	Previous best performance
Morocco	Co-hosts	4 October 2023 [11]	7 [A]	2022	2	Fourth place ( 2022)
Portugal			9 [B]	2022	6	Third place ( 1966)
Spain			17 [C]	2022	12	Winners ( 2010)
Argentina	Anniversary match co-hosts	5 October 2023 [11]	19 [D]	2022	13	Winners ( 1978, 1986, 2022)
Paraguay			9 [E]	2010	0	Quarter-finals ( 2010)
Uruguay			15 [F]	2022	4	Winners ( 1930, 1950)

Concerns

The 2030 FIFA World Cup has already been met with backlash from fans, football officials, and environmental groups with them noting the large distance between South America and Europe would require considerable plane travel, which would increase the carbon footprint and negate FIFA's carbon neutral plans. They have also noted the issues for fans of teams who would get drawn with Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as well as the short amount of rest for players once those teams travel back to the main hosts in Iberia and Morocco. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter warned that the number of hosts that the 2030 FIFA World Cup has would cause the tournament to "lose its identity". Others have noted that with the FIFA rotation system, CONCACAF (which will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup), CONMEBOL, UEFA, and CAF would be unable to bid, leaving 2034 open to the AFC and OFC, which has led to accusations that FIFA selected the hosts to ensure that Saudi Arabia, an AFC member with major human rights controversies, would have their bid unopposed. ^{[12] [13]}

References