FIFA decided to hold the World Cup on several continents for the first time

The 2030 FIFA World Cup will be held on an unprecedented scale. Six countries will host the tournament matches. The games will take place in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. True, the participation of South American states will be limited. But be that as it may, the world championship will spread across three continents for the first time. Previously, it had never gone beyond one.

On Wednesday, the Council of the International Football Federation (FIFA) decided to give the right to host the 2030 World Cup to six countries located on three continents – Europe, Africa and South America. The FIFA Council decided that the games of the anniversary championship (the first World Cup was played in 1930 in Uruguay) will be hosted by Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. IN statement FIFA notes that the corresponding decision was made unanimously by the council, and also reports that all teams representing the host countries of the World Cup will automatically receive tickets to the final part of the championship. FIFA’s statement also said that a ceremony of sorts would be held in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, to mark the centenary of the World Cup. The decision of the FIFA council must still be approved by the congress of this organization (to be held in 2024), but most likely there will be no problems with this.

The decision of the FIFA council was quite unexpected, given that the only official bid to host the 2030 World Cup was that submitted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco (it was previously reported that joint bids were also being prepared by Uruguay with Argentina, Chile with Paraguay, Greece with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but they did not get to the specifics).

It is noteworthy that back in 2022 it was assumed that Ukraine would qualify for the tournament together with Spain and Portugal.

This was seen as a kind of gesture of solidarity with Ukraine. But in the spring of 2023, it was decided to abandon this idea. Not only because of the long distances separating Ukraine from Spain and Portugal, but also because of the ongoing hostilities in which the Ukrainian state is involved.

However, as FIFA President Gianni Infantino noted, “in a divided world, football unites,” and therefore the FIFA Council decided to take an unexpected option, including three more South American states among the host countries. However, their participation in the organization of the tournament will be very limited – Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina will host only one group stage match each. Obviously, these will be games with the participation of their teams. At least the Argentine Football Association has already announced that the current world champions will play their first match at the 2030 championship at home.

However, FIFA has not yet explained how the council’s decision will affect the qualifying tournaments for the World Cup. His influence will be especially noticeable in qualifying in South America. There are ten national teams in CONCACAF. At the same time, the confederation has a quota of six places at the World Championship. Three, it turns out, have already been taken, and what scheme the remaining ones will be played out remains to be decided. The impact on Europe will be less severe. After all, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) quota is 16 teams. The Confederation of African Football quota is 9 teams.

Let us note that the World Championship has never been held before even on two continents at the same time.

Even two states jointly hosted a tournament only once – in 2002, the championship took place in Japan and South Korea, and then Sepp Blatter, then the head of FIFA, made it clear that he did not consider this experience a success. However, under Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s position changed. Thus, the 2026 World Cup will be hosted by three countries: the USA, Canada and Mexico. In addition, starting from this tournament, not 32, but 48 teams will compete in the final part of the championship. It is obvious that it is difficult for states to host a greatly expanded tournament alone, and therefore the practice of jointly holding the World Championship will likely continue after 2030.

Let us add that among the newly created host countries of the World Cup, in addition to Uruguay, Argentina (1978) and Spain (1982) previously hosted it. So for half of the countries named by FIFA, the 2030 championship will be historic.

Alexander Petrov