The candidacy of Spain, Portugal and Morocco has today been greatly strengthened in its chances of hosting the 2030 World Cup.
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, has been in contact in the last few hours with the liaisons of Greece and Egypt to inform them that they have finally withdrawn and will not submit a bid for the 2030 World Cup in view of the strength of the project led by the Spanish federation together with the Portuguese one.
Having studied in detail the real framework of possibilities, Saudi Arabia has concluded that it is impossible to impose itself on the Spain-Portugal-Morocco bid, after realizing the work already done by the Spanish and Portuguese federations. The discreet diplomatic strategy of the RFEF designed by Luis Rubiales and Fernando Gomes and Antonio Laranjo (Portuguese Football Federation) is once again bearing fruit and the bid is once again reinforced. So, only the South American bid with Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay, has confirmed that it is bidding to rival Spain’s interests.
On September 2024, the winner of this race will be known, where the project promoted by Rubiales and Gomes seems to have a growing advantage.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
I thought a big part of Messi’s Saudi Arabia tourism deal and the money thrown at players was to legitimise football in Saudi Arabia for the 2030 bid
2034 is still a possibility.
2030 has two serious bids by the sound of it but 2034 seems to have no real stand out at the moment.
There’s probably a good 4-5 countires/regions you can guarantee will get a WC in the next 20-30 years. China, Saudi Arabia, Australia, North Africa, South-East Asia. UK hopefully at some point soon as well (maybe a little bias in this part).
Here’s hoping South America gets it. It would be the most relevant option historically speaking, and UEFA already got the WC two editions ago.
I suspect most of us want it to be in South America for historical reasons.
The main issue with WC’s now is the almost guaranteed losses for host countries. I think we’ll see some protests similar to Brazil in 2014 & 2016 if the South American bid is accepted.
Tactical decision. They want to be the sole hosts.
