King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced on Tuesday that his country had joined Spain and Portugal’s bid to host the centenary World Cup in 2030. The announcement, delivered in a message as he received the African Football Confederation 2022 Award of Excellence in Kigali, suggests that war‑torn Ukraine is likely to be dropped from the joint candidature. A spokesman for the Spanish football federation told AFP that officials would meet with their Portuguese and Moroccan counterparts in Kigali on Wednesday, but made no reference to Ukraine. “The presidents will announce any news regarding the candidacy for the 2030 World Cup in Kigali,” he added.
Spain and Portugal first declared their joint bid in 2021 and added Ukraine to the proposal last October. In contrast, Morocco is separated from Spain only by the Strait of Gibraltar, making its inclusion geographically logical. A South American bid comprising Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile will challenge the Iberian proposal, while Saudi Arabia hopes to lead a joint ticket with Egypt and Greece.
Joint hosts have precedented the World Cup before. In 2002, Japan and South Korea co‑hosted the tournament, and the 2026 finals will be shared by the United States, Mexico and Canada, with 11 of the 16 venues located in the U.S. The 2026 edition will expand from 32 to 48 teams, increasing the number of matches from 64 in Qatar to 104 under the format announced by FIFA on Tuesday.
Morocco was the other contender for the 2026 World Cup but finished a distant second in the voting. That was the fifth time the kingdom had sought to host the finals, after previous bids for the 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010 tournaments. Having already indicated its intention to bid for 2030—an edition that has been held in Africa only once, in South Africa in 2010—Morocco sees the new candidature as “a gathering of the best on both sides, and the demonstration of an alliance of genius, creativity, experience and means,” King Mohammed said in his message, read by Sports Minister Chakib Benmoussa.
At the last World Cup in Qatar, Morocco became the first nation from Africa or the Arab world to reach the semi‑finals. The inaugural tournament in 1930 was hosted and won by Uruguay, which is now part of the joint South American bid with Argentina, Paraguay and Chile.
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