World Cup 2030 and 2034, it's official: here's where they will be played

Rome, 11 December 2024 – There were no more doubts, but now the news has arrived the official FIFAThe International Football Federation has revealed the countries that will host the the 2030 and 2034 World Cups. In the first case the choice fell on Morocco, Portugal and Spain, four later it will be your turn to Saudi Arabia. There were no competitors and the decision came by acclamation during an extraordinary virtual congress.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has announced the countries that will host the 2030 and 2034 World Cups

World Cup 2030

The tournament of the 2030 will start with three games in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to celebrate a century since the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930. All other matches will then be hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain. Morocco It is the second African country to organize the World Cup, after South Africa in 2010. After the three races in South America, scheduled June 8 and 9, 2030, in the cool of the southern winter, the six teams involved and their fans will cross the Atlantic for the other 101 games, from the 13 June to the 21 July.

With 11 of the 20 stages proposed, Spain should be the main host country after having already organised the 1982 World Cup. Spain and Morocco are still competing the opening match and the final, respectively proposing the Santiago Bernabeu of Madrid or the Camp Nou of Barcelona and the future stadium Hassan II between Casablanca and Rabat, which aims to become the "largest stadium in the world" with 115.000 spotsPortugal offers the two stadiums of Lisbon and Porto and seeks the semi-final.

In general they will be 11 stadiums and 9 Spanish cities interested: Madrid (two stadiums), Barcelona (2), Seville, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Malaga, Zaragoza, Las Palmas and La Coruna. Six Moroccan cities: Agadir, Casablanca, Fes, Marrakech, Rabat and Tangier. Two Portuguese cities: Porto and Lisbon (two stadiums).

In Arabia in 2024

Saudi Arabia got the 2034 edition amidst criticism over issues on human rights. It will be the second World Championship tournament in the Gulf region, after Qatari 2022. Invoking the principle of geographic rotation, FIFA had limited its call for bids for 2034 to Asian and Oceanic Confederations. And Saudi Arabia, the emerging superpower of world sport – from F1 to the future Olympics of e-sports, including the 2029 Asian Winter Games – found itself the only candidate after the withdrawal of Australia and Indonesia and the shelving of China's football ambitions. The kingdom, embarked on a strategy of economic diversification and image improvement, currently has only two of the 14 stadiums with at least 40.000 seats required. The torrid summer could then force them to move the competition in winter or in late autumn, as in Qatar in 2022, but we will have to deal with the Ramadan scheduled for December. Five cities will be involved: Abha, Jeddah, Khobar, Neom and Riyadh.

However, the Saudi candidacy has not convinced everyone. Norwegian Football Association expressed his reservations, referring in particular to the failure to respect human rights. Even the FIFA report, despite the record score obtained, does not forget a series of problems such as those related to the transportation system and the need for transparency regarding human rights. Furthermore, in a joint statement 21 organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Sport and Rights Alliance and Football Supporters Europe (FSE), said that the World Cup in Saudi Arabia “puts human lives at risk and reveal the inadequacy of FIFA's commitments on human rights". For the signatories, "it is clear that without urgent action and comprehensive reforms, the 2034 World Cup will be tainted by repression, discrimination and exploitation on a large scale ".