Martin Lange with AFP / Photo credit: KEITA IIJIMA / YOMIURI / THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN VIA AFP
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8:29 p.m., October 4, 2023
The European, African and South American football confederations have agreed on a single candidacy for the 2030 World Cup, presented by Morocco, Spain and Portugal with three matches in South America, Fifa announced on Wednesday . For the centenary of its first edition in Uruguay, the men’s World Cup “will unite three continents and six countries”, promises the football body, which must still validate the technical criteria and will not officially award the competition until the end of 2024.
But with the “unanimous” approval of this unique file by the Fifa Council, the road seems clear for this unprecedented intercontinental formula, promising a complex political and logistical setup and numerous questions around the environmental impact of major sporting events. .
A “centenary ceremony”
Wednesday’s announcement puts an end to the announced rivalry between two favorites, a joint candidacy from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay, and a European ticket long led by Spain and Portugal. A year ago, with the support of UEFA, the two countries included Ukraine in their dossier, ensuring that they wanted to launch “a message of solidarity and hope” and pay tribute to “the tenacity and resilience ” of a country occupied by the Russian army since February 2022. But this highly political team has not been clarified since and Morocco, five unsuccessful candidates to host the tournament, joined the dance in mid-March, without it being specified what would happen to Ukraine.
The agreement between UEFA and its African (CAF) and South American (CONMEBOL) counterparts ratifies both the withdrawal of Ukraine and that of the initial Argentina-Chile-Uruguay-Paraguay project, in exchange for a concession major symbolism. An agreement which Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, welcomes. “This is an important moment in the history of Morocco, a great achievement under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. It is an honor and a responsibility that we have before us and a privilege to join forces with the Portugal and Spain to prepare a bid file which, I am sure, will make history and push the organization of the competition to a new level,” he said in a statement.
According to Fifa, a “centenary ceremony” will indeed be held “at the stadium where it all began”, in Montevideo, at the time when the event brought together 13 teams in the same host city – compared to 32 during the 2022 World Cup. in Qatar and 48 from the 2026 edition in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In addition, Montevideo, Asuncion and Buenos Aires will each host a World Cup meeting, even if most of the event will take place between the three organizing countries.