FIFA has officially announced the names of the World Cup 2030 & World Cup 2024 hosts. While football fans already knew about the next destinations of the showpiece event via unofficial channels, now FIFA has made the news official.
World Cup 2030 Hosts
Spain, Portugal, and Morocco are set to host the 2030 men’s World Cup, while the opening fixtures will kick off in South America in honour of the FIFA World Cup’s 100th anniversary. As a result, teams will compete across different seasons and hemispheres throughout the tournament.
In early 2023, four South American countries—Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay—put forward a joint bid. But by October, FIFA announced that the joint bid from Morocco, Portugal, and Spain was the only contender left.
Spain and Portugal first submitted a joint bid in 2021, with Ukraine joining the following year after Russia’s invasion. However, Ukraine was later replaced by Morocco due to concerns over the ongoing war and governance issues within the Ukraine Football Association. While Spain hosted the World Cup in 1982, neither Portugal nor Morocco has ever had the honour before.
The total number of stadiums for the tournament has not been finalized yet, but the official bid evaluation report lists 20 stadiums shared across the three co-hosts. Spain is set to host the most games, with 11 venues proposed, including the Nou Camp in Barcelona, the largest stadium in Europe, and the renowned Bernabeu in Madrid.
Portugal will feature three stadiums for the tournament: Estadio Jose Alvalade, Estadio da Luz, and Estadio do Dragao, home to Sporting CP, Benfica, and Porto, respectively. Morocco has proposed six venues, including five newly built ones and an additional stadium to be constructed in Casablanca.
World Cup 2034 Hosts
Saudi Arabia has won the rights to host the FIFA World Cup 2034. It was the only country to put in a bid, so now it’s confirmed that the greatest show on earth will return to the Middle East 12 years after the Qatar 2022 spectacle.
Organisers have confirmed that the Saudi World Cup will take place in 15 stadiums across five cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Abha, Al-Khobar, and the newly planned city of Neom in the country’s north-west. 11 out of the 15 proposed venues are yet to be built. Construction for three has already begun, and the remaining eight are still in the planning stage.
From 2026 onwards, the World Cup will feature 48 teams, an increase from the 32 that competed in Qatar. The tournament will also have ten fan parks, with two in each city. In terms of accommodation, FIFA’s bid report points to a wide selection of choices to accommodate teams, officials, media, and supporters.
The 2034 World Cup may be scheduled in winter to avoid the extreme summer heat, similar to the 2022 tournament in Qatar. However, local authorities have not ruled out a summer competition and are conducting studies to determine its feasibility.
From October to April, Saudi Arabia experiences its mildest temperatures, with average daily temperatures in host cities ranging from 15°C to 30°C. However, during the hotter months of May to September, inland areas can reach temperatures between 27°C and 43°C, while coastal cities tend to stay between 27°C and 38°C.
