The Moroccans have teamed up with Spain and Portugal for a joint endeavor to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. On Tuesday, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI revealed his country's collaboration with the two European nations in a message read out by Moroccan Minister of Sports Chakib Benmoussa at the FIFA annual congress held in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, where the monarch was named the winner of the African Football Confederation 2022 President’s Outstanding Achievement Award.
While Morocco, whose team put on a stellar performance in the recent FIFA World Cup in Qatar, had previously expressed its desire to host the tournament alone, the joint bid aims to bolster the chances of success by pooling the resources and infrastructure of all three nations. The decision comes after Morocco lost to a joint bid from the United States, Canada, and Mexico to host the 2026 World Cup.
"This candidature will be a gathering of the best on both sides, and the demonstration of an alliance of genius, creativity, experience and means," said King Mohammed in his message.
A member of the Royal Spanish Football Federation said that the presidents of the football federations of the three countries would hold a joint meeting on the sidelines of the Kigali FIFA congress to discuss the matter.
"The presidents will announce any news regarding the candidacy for the 2030 World Cup in Kigali," the spokesperson added.
Spain and its neighbor, Portugal, first announced their joint effort to host the 2030 men's football tournament in October 2020, before adding Ukraine to their bid in October 2022.
However, no mention of Ukraine as a third host nation were made since Morocco, which is separated from Spain only by the Strait of Gibraltar, announced that it was joining forces with the two European countries.
Morocco made its first bid to host the 2026 World Cup in June 2018, but lost to the joint trio consisting of the United States, Canada and Mexico. United 2026, also known as the North American 2026 bid, won the honor of hosting the FIFA World Cup finals, after it won 134 votes against 65 for the North African nation in the FIFA Congress vote.
Later, in 2022, Morocco expressed its desire to host a FIFA World Cup alone, seeking to be the second African country to organize the tournament after South Africa in 2010, and the second in the Arab world after Qatar, which was host of the 2022 event.
The top global football tournament has had co-hosts before, namely, Japan and South Korea for the World Cup 2002.