The –Portugal–Morocco–Portugal–Spain 2030 FIFA World Cup bid, is a joint intended bid by Morocco, Portugal and Spain to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The bid was first announced by the football federations of Portugal and Spain on 7 October 2020, with Morocco joining on 14 March 2023. On 4 October 2023, Spain, Portugal and Morocco were chosen as the host countries for the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Background
Spain has previously hosted the FIFA World Cup finals in 1982, while Portugal and Morocco have never hosted the tournament. All three countries have hosted the finals of their continental tournaments once – Spain in 1964, Portugal in 2004 and Morocco in 1988. Spain and Portugal had previously submitted an unsuccessful joint bid to host the FIFA World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. FIFA's rules for rotating the tournament between continents made UEFA members, including the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ineligible to bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The regulations for the 2030 World Cup bidding process will be announced in the second quarter of 2022, with applications being accepted from June that year and the host to be selected at the 74th FIFA Congress in 2024. If the regulations remain the same as those for the 2026 World Cup, football federations from Asia (AFC) and North America (CONCACAF) will be ineligible to host following the successful Qatar 2022 and United 2026 bids respectively. The tournament will mark the centenary of the first FIFA World Cup which was hosted by Uruguay, and several other national football federations across Europe, South America and Africa have expressed interest in bidding to host the tournament.
Announcement
The FPF and RFEF jointly announced their intentions to bid for the tournament during a goalless friendly match between the two countries' national teams on 7 October 2020. Before another goalless friendly between the two teams on 4 June 2021 (which also marked the centenary of Portugal's first international fixture, against Spain) the agreement to jointly support a bid was formalised. The respective presidents of the RFEF and FPF, Luis Rubiales and Fernando Gomes, ratified the agreement on behalf of their respective federations. Also in attendance to support the bid were King of Spain Felipe VI, President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa, and multiple government ministers and officials from both countries.
Addition of Morocco as co-hosts
On 5 October 2022, the FPF and RFEF held a joint press conference on their 2030 World Cup bid at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. RFEF president Rubiales and FPF president Gomes were joined by Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) president Andriy Pavelko, announcing that Ukraine would join the bid but the Russian invasion of the country hindered Ukraine's accession to the bid.
Independently of the Spain–Portugal bid, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation announced in mid-2018 that it would seek to host the tournament. It was Morocco's sixth bid to host the FIFA World Cup, after unsuccessful attempts in 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2026. On 14 March 2023, King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced that the country would instead join the Spain–Portugal bid as a co-host. Although the Royal Spanish Football Federation did not immediately confirm the addition, the prime ministers of Spain and Portugal both welcomed Morocco's decision to join the bid. On 27 September 2023, Morocco was selected as the host of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. On 4 October 2023, the FIFA Council uninamously approved Spain, Portugal and Morocco as the sole bids for the tournament.
Major sports events hosting experiences
Spain, Portugal and Morocco have all hosted various major sporting events, including: