Morocco, Spain and Portugal is set to win the hosting rights of the FIFA World Cup 2030. However, the opening three games will be held in South America to celebrate the centenary year of the World Cup. The first World Cup took place in Uruguay in 1930 with the hosts winning the World Cup by beating Argentina.
Spain, Portugal and Morocco put in a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup in 2022. A South American bid also came in to host the entire tournament. However, FIFA decided to award the hosting right to the three nations.
Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina’s wishes were respected too. FIFA allowed the South American nations to host the first three matches of the tournament where the three teams will be playing their first match.
The tournament will be held across three continents for the first time. It will also be the first instance when six teams gain automatic qualification to the tournament by the virtue of being host nations.
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The first game of the tournament will take place in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the city which hosted the first World Cup finals match 93 years ago.
After the first three games, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, along with their three opponents, will travel to Morocco, Spain and then Portugal for the rest of the group stage.
The FIFA Council approved the proposal at its meeting on Wednesday. UEFA, the African Football Confederation, and the South American Football Confederation endorsed the proposal. FIFA’s congress now needs to be ratify it.
If the Moroccan bid is successful, it would be the second African country to host the World Cup finals. South Africa became the first African country to host the biggest tournament in football in 2010.
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