BREAKING: FIFA CONFIRMS SAUDI ARABIA AS 2034 WORLD CUP HOST, SIX NATIONS AS 2030 HOSTS

FIFA has officially confirmed Saudi Arabia as the host nation of the 2034 men’s World Cup.

Following an extraordinary FIFA Congress meeting on Wednesday, world football’s governing body has also confirmed that the 2030 World Cup will be held across six nations—Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay—in three continents.

Both bids were unopposed, with each proposal finalised in October 2023.

They were confirmed after a vote of FIFA’s member associations, who convened at an online meeting with Gianni Infantino, the organisation’s president, hosted at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland

How will the 2030 World Cup work?

For the first time in World Cup history, the 2030 tournament will be held across multiple continents.

The first match will be played in Montevideo, Uruguay, to celebrate the city that hosted the first World Cup in 1930. The second and third games will be held in Argentina and Paraguay, respectively.

Uruguay hosted and won the inaugural World Cup in 1930, and Argentina were the beaten finalists, while the South American Football Confederation’s (CONMEBOL) headquarters are based in Paraguay. CONMEBOL was the only confederation in existence at the time of the 1930 tournament. The remaining matches will be held across Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.

World Cup matches have never previously been staged in Portugal, Paraguay, or Morocco, which will become the first north African nation to host tournament matches. Spain will host its first tournament matches since 1982.

Montevideo, Asuncion, and Buenos Aires—the respective capitals of Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina—will start the tournament. Six Moroccan cities (Agadir, Casablanca, Fes, Marrakech, Rabat, Tangier), two from Portugal (Lisbon, Porto), and nine from Spain (A Coruna, Barcelona, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Madrid, Malaga, San Sebastian, Seville, Zaragoza) will also host matches.