2030 World Cup will celebrate the tournament's centenary with 6 host countries

For those who found a World Cup with three host countries unusual, the 2030 World Cup will surprise again. Four years from now, the most important tournament in world football will have matches in six different countries, on three continents: Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. The World Cup should take place between June 8th and July 21st.

The venues for the 2030 World Cup will be Spain, Portugal and Morocco. The three countries launched a single candidacy, which was successful. However, this will be the year that marks the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup, held in Uruguay in 1930. For this reason, the Uruguayans will host the opening ceremony and the inaugural match of the tournament.

While Uruguay hosts the start of the tournament in honor of the first World Cup and also for being the first champion in history, Argentina will host its team's first match in the 2030 World Cup.

According to the International Football Federation (Fifa), the Argentines will receive a game “in recognition of Argentina's role as finalist and runner-up in the 1930 edition”. The Paraguayan team will also host the first game of its group at home. The country did not have a notable participation in the first World Cup in history, being eliminated in the group stage, but it is the headquarters of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol).

“A game will be played in Paraguay in recognition of Paraguay’s role as headquarters of Conmebol, the first and only confederation existing at the time of the 1930 edition”, explained FIFA.

In this way, the six countries hosting World Cup games already have a guaranteed place in the tournament. Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay are automatically classified in the quota for the distribution of places in South America. Spain and Portugal also have a guaranteed place in the European quota and Morocco in the quota of the African Football Confederation (CAF). However, this does not mean that the other South American countries will have fewer places up for grabs in the qualifiers. FIFA president Gianni Infantino is studying expanding the tournament's participants to 64 teams. There is nothing certain, but after the final that crowned Spain as champions, he gave an interview while still on the pitch stating that the World Cup with 48 teams was “a success”.

If this expansion is confirmed, it will consolidate the round of 16 phase and the participation of smaller countries with no tradition in football. This could lead to more positive surprises, such as Cape Verde, and other less competitive teams, such as Curaçao, Iraq and Uzbekistan, which did not win any victories.

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