The 2030 FIFA World Cup will be the 24th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The 2030 World Cup will mark the centennial World Cup competition. For the first time, three countries from two continents will host the competition, with Morocco, Portugal and Spain as host nations. Additionally, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will serve as nations that open the event, as a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup in Uruguay.^[2] This will be the first World Cup held in Africa since 2010, in South America since 2014, as well as in Europe since 2018.

Host selection

FIFA launched the bidding process in earnest in 2022.^[3][4] As hosts of the 2022 and 2026 editions respectively, the 2030 FIFA World Cup cannot be hosted by a member of the Asian AFC or the North American CONCACAF.^[5][6]

Hosts are required to have at least fourteen all-seater stadiums with a capacity of 40,000, with a minimum of seven being pre-existing. The opening match and final must take place in an 80,000-seat stadium, while the semi-finals must take place in a 60,000-seat stadium.^[7] Hosts must also have at least 72 suitable training site options for team base camps, four suitable venue-specific training site options per stadium, in addition to two suitable referee base camp training site options, all with suitable accommodation.^[7] The FIFA Council also regulates requirements relating to broadcasting sites, competition-related event sites, as well as accommodation. In addition, sustainability, environmental protections and human rights will also be factors considered by the council, along with governmental support, the organisational model to be used, besides provisions for the establishment of a "legacy fund".^[7][8]

Potential venues

† denotes stadium used for previous men's World Cup tournament (Argentina, Spain and Uruguay only)

⋆ planned stadiums to be built

+ stadiums that will undergo renovation

Barcelona			Madrid		Lisbon
Camp Nou † +		Stage Front Stadium	Santiago Bernabéu † +	Metropolitano Stadium	Estádio da Luz	Estádio José Alvalade
Capacity: 99,354 Expandable to: 105,000		Capacity: 40,000	Capacity: 84,744	Capacity: 70,460	Capacity: 64,642	Capacity: 50,095
Valencia	Barcelona Bilbao Madrid Seville Valencia Lisbon Porto San Sebastian Vigo Zaragoza Málaga Murcia La Coruña Gijón 2030 FIFA World Cup (Iberia) Las Palmas 2030 FIFA World Cup (Canary Islands) Casablanca Rabat Agadir Marrakesh Fez Tangier 2030 FIFA World Cup (Morocco)					Seville
Nou Mestalla *						La Cartuja +
Capacity: 70,000						Capacity: 60,721 Expandable to: 75,000
Bilbao						Porto
San Mamés						Estádio do Dragão
Capacity: 53,289						Capacity: 50,033
Murcia						Gijón
Estadio Nueva Condomina +						El Molinón † +
Capacity: 31,179 Expandable to: 42,000						Capacity: 29,029 To be expanded
Málaga		Zaragoza	Vigo	La Coruña	Las Palmas	San Sebastián
La Rosaleda † +		La Romareda † +	Balaídos † +	Riazor † +	Estadio Gran Canaria +	Anoeta Stadium
Capacity: 30,044 Expandable to: 45,000		Capacity: 33,608 Expandable to: 42,500	Capacity: 29,000 Expandable to: 41,900	Capacity: 32,660 Expandable to: 48,000	Capacity: 32,392 Expandable to: 44,682	Capacity: 40,000
Casablanca		Rabat	Tangier	Agadir	Marrakech	Fes
Grand Stade de Casablanca *		Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium +	Ibn Batouta Stadium +	Adrar Stadium +	Marrakesh Stadium +	Fez Stadium +
Capacity: 113,000		Capacity: 53,000 Expandable to: 69,500	Capacity: 65,000 Expandable to: 88,000	Capacity: 45,480 Expandable to: 55,000 (at least)	Capacity: 45,240 Expandable to: 70,000	Capacity: 45,000 Expandable to: 55,000 (at least)

Centenary ceremony match host cities:

Montevideo	Buenos Aires	Asunción	Asunción Buenos Aires Montevideo 2030 FIFA World Cup (South America)
Centenario † +	Antonio Vespucio Liberti †	Estadio CONMEBOL *
Capacity: 60,000	Capacity: 83,000	Capacity: 60,000

Teams

Qualification

All six host nations will qualify for the World Cup.^[2][9][10]

  Teams qualified

  Team whose qualification process has yet to be decided

  Teams failed to qualify

  Teams withdrew or suspended

  Not a FIFA member

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Total times qualified	Last time qualified	Current consecutive appearances	Previous best performance
Morocco	Co-hosts	4 October 2023[11]	7[upper-alpha 1]	2022	2	Fourth place (2022)
Portugal			9[upper-alpha 2]	2022	6	Third place (1966)
Spain			17[upper-alpha 3]	2022	12	Winners (2010)
Argentina	Anniversary match co-hosts	5 October 2023[11]	19[upper-alpha 4]	2022	13	Winners (1978, 1986, 2022)
Paraguay			9[upper-alpha 5]	2010	0	Quarter-finals (2010)
Uruguay			15[upper-alpha 6]	2022	4	Winners (1930, 1950)

1. ↑ Morocco may still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which could bring their prior appearances to 8.
2. ↑ Portugal may still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which could bring their prior appearances to 10.
3. ↑ Spain may still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which could bring their prior appearances to 18.
4. ↑ Argentina may still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which could bring their prior appearances to 20.
5. ↑ Paraguay may still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which could bring their prior appearances to 10.
6. ↑ Uruguay may still qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which could bring their prior appearances to 16.

Concerns

The 2030 FIFA World Cup has already been met with backlash from fans, football officials, and environmental groups with them noting the large distance between South America and Europe would require considerable plane travel, which would increase the carbon footprint and negate FIFA's carbon neutral plans. They have also noted the issues for fans of teams who would get drawn with Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as well as the short amount of rest once those teams travel back to the main hosts. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter warned that the amount of hosts that the 2030 FIFA World Cup has would cause the tournament to "lose its identity". Others have noted that with the FIFA rotation system, CONCACAF (which hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup), CONMEBOL, UEFA, and CAF would be unable to bid, leaving 2034 open to the AFC and OFC, which has led to accusations that FIFA selected the hosts in order to ensure that Saudi Arabia, an AFC member with major human rights controversies, would have their bid unopposed.^[12]

References