World football ruling body, FIFA, has announced it will host the 2030 World Cup in six countries across three continents.
According to a statement released on the FIFA website on Wednesday, Spain, Portugal and Morocco will host the historic tournament but the first three games will be played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.
The upcoming 48-team tournament will be the first of its kind to be played on more than one continent.
In a bid to mark a centenary of global football, FIFA seeks to have the first opening match played at the stadium where it all began in 1930 at Uruguay’s Estádio Centenário. The 1930 world cup was won by host Uruguay in a 4-2 win against Argentina.
The statement partly reads, “In 2030, the FIFA World Cup will unite three continents and six countries, inviting the entire world to join in the celebration of the beautiful game, the Centenary and the FIFA World Cup itself.
“The FIFA Council unanimously agreed that the sole candidacy will be the combined bid of Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, which will host the event in 2030 and qualify automatically from the existing slot allocation subject to the completion of a successful bidding process conducted by FIFA and a decision by the FIFA Congress in 2024.
“Additionally, having taken into account the historical context of the first-ever FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Council further unanimously agreed to host a unique centenary celebration ceremony in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, where the first ever FIFA World Cup took place in 1930, as well as three World Cup matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay respectively.
If the 2030 proposal is approved, Morocco would become only the second African nation to host a World Cup, after South Africa in 2010.
As in previous World Cups, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Spain, Portugal and Morocco will all qualify automatically as co-hosts.
