Despite the joint bid from Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the proposal by Spain-Portugal appears to have an edge to host the world’s most significant sports event.
The governing body of soccer in Europe, known as UEFA, maintains a confident stance that Spain and Portugal will provide the proper infrastructure and atmosphere to welcome the world in 2030. Considering South America’s most recent 2014 World Cup hosted by Brazil, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin believes the quadrennial tournament will be shared by two countries on the Iberian Peninsula.
“I see it as a winning bid. We will do what we can to help the bid,” stated Ceferin.
Europe’s history of hosting World Cup tournaments
Moreover, the World Cup will come to North America in 2026 as the USA, Canada, and Mexico await tremendous opportunities to boost economies with soccer. Therefore, FIFA’s 2030 return to Europe, instead of the Americas, seems very plausible. This year’s event will be held in the Middle East for the first time, showing that FIFA is open to taking its ever-growing tournament to specific countries around the globe that haven’t hosted it before.
The last time the Iberian Peninsula hosted was in Spain 1982, where Paolo Rossi and the Azzurri won the World Cup for Italy. Therefore, the 2030 World Cup could be the first time in Portugal’s history as host. However, Portugal is not a stranger to hosting a prestigious soccer tournament. The country on the Atlantic coast hosted Euro 2004, when Greece won the European Championship in remarkable fashion.
Since the dawn of the World Cup in 1930, South America has hosted the quadrennial event five times: Uruguay 1930, Brazil 1950, Chile 1962, Argentina 1978, and Brazil 2014. If Spain-Portugal wins the bid, Europe will mark its record ninth time as host, depending on whether or not Russia counts as a transcontinental nation, despite its United Nations classifications as a European country.
For the 2030 FIFA World Cup, a dozen Spanish stadiums are included in the bid, and three in the Portuguese Republic.