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The six national flags of the 2030 World Cup co-hosts.

FIFA confirms 2030 World Cup to be hosted in six countries, Saudi Arabia confirms bid for 2034

The 2030 tournament will be held in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, but with a group game to be played in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

LAST UPDATE | 4 Oct 2023

THE 2030 FIFA World Cup will be hosted across three different continents for the first time ever. 

Fifa have today announced that all those seeking to bid for the tournament have joined up to form a single, unopposed bid that will sprawl across the world to an extent like never before. 

Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will be the primary hosts, but there will be a group stage game played in each of Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina to mark the centenary of the competition. The first game will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, the city which hosted the very first World Cup game back in 1930. 

The decision to combine the bids was taken at a meeting of the Fifa Council today, and will be ratified by a vote at Fifa Congress next year. Fifa say Spain, Portugal and Morocco will qualify automatically for the tournament, but did not say whether the three South American sides will be guaranteed a slot at the event. 

“In 2030, we will have a unique global footprint, three continents – Africa, Europe and South America – six countries – Argentina, Morocco, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay – welcoming and uniting the world while celebrating together the beautiful game, the centenary and the Fifa World Cup”, said Fifa president Gianni Infantino. 

Fifa have also said they are accepting bids from the Asian and Oceania confederations to host the 2034 World Cup. Within an hour of Fifa’s announcement, Saudi Arabia has confirmed that it will bid for the 2034 World Cup.  

In a statement, the Saudi Press Agency said that its bid for the 2034 World Cup  is a reflection of the country’s “comprehensive renaissance”.

Sport has been a major focus of the oil-rich kingdom’s effort to elbow its way into the global business sphere despite its abysmal human rights record, a tactic referred to as ‘sportswashing’. 

Elsewhere, Fifa have followed in Uefa’s footsteps in lifting a ban preventing Russian teams from competing in the Fifa U17 World Cup. Fifa say the teams must play under the name ‘Football Union of Russia’ rather than ‘Russia, in neutral colours, and their games cannot feature the Russian flag, the Russian national anthem.  

In a statement, the Fifa Council “reiterated its condemnation of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine and confirmed that the remaining terms of the decision made on 28 February 2022 remain in force until the end of the conflict.” Russia hosted the 2018 World Cup, and Gianni Infantino received a Medal of Friendship from Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in 2019. When asked in February of last year, Infantino declined to say whether he returned the medal. 

The FAI last week issued a statement saying they would refuse to play a game against a Russian U17 side. 

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    Mute Mary Linton
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    Feb 7th 2025, 8:32 AM

    Hoping this incident has a positive outcome, I’d kindly ask the “TDS” sufferers on here to delay their juvenile ramblings until further information ( hopefully positive) is available

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    Mute Barry Spoon
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    Feb 7th 2025, 8:33 AM

    @Mary Linton: well said

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    Mute Niall Lappin
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    Feb 7th 2025, 9:01 AM

    @Mary Linton: while if this happened under Biden it would be a different story

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    Mute Colm Corcoran
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    Feb 7th 2025, 9:04 AM

    @Mary Linton: Can I politely point out that adding in ‘kindly’ doesn’t make your message less provocative, ironically your language comes across a bit juvenile if your concern is solely for the passengers.

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    Mute Mary Linton
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    Feb 7th 2025, 9:08 AM

    @Colm Corcoran: would have thought all our concerns at this point would be for the passengers, unfortunately, I realise this comments board is a mere cesspit of obvious trolls

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    Mute Colm Corcoran
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    Feb 7th 2025, 9:14 AM

    @Mary Linton: Your first comment was to take a political jab, don’t give me that rubbish.

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    Mute Barry Spoon
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    Feb 7th 2025, 9:32 AM

    @Niall Lappin: Biden, worst US president ever lol

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    Mute damien leen
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    Feb 7th 2025, 10:14 AM

    @Mary Linton: you took a shot then climbed up to your ivory tower, sorry doesn’t work like that.

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    Mute Name
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    Feb 7th 2025, 10:20 AM

    @Mary Linton: pathetic political trolling masked as “concern”. Psychopaths do this.

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    Mute Dermot Blaine
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    Feb 7th 2025, 10:20 AM

    @Mary Linton: you spend all day everyday trolling, celebrating the deaths of Palestinian civilians for example, and now you call on others to show respect? Practice what you preach

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    Mute Ian
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    Feb 7th 2025, 10:26 AM

    @Barry Spoon: The facts don’t back up your bullshyte.

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    Mute Darran Macken
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    Feb 8th 2025, 9:47 PM

    The past 24 months has had some amount of airline accidents and or incidents, from windows blown out mid flight, crashes, missing planes it must be unprecedented the amount of incidents.

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