Morocco, Portugal, Spain submit joint bid to host 2030 Football World Cup to FIFA

The joint bid by Morocco, Portugal and Spain to host the 2030 World Cup reached a “significant” milestone with the official submission of the complete bid file to the International Football Federation (FIFA), at an event held on Monday at FIFA’s offices in Paris, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) said in a press release.

The official bid file was submitted to FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, by the presidents of the three candidate football Federations: Fouzi Lekjaa, FRMF President, Fernando Gomez, President of the Portuguese Football Federation, and Álvaro de Miguel, general secretary of the Royal Spanish Football Federation on behalf of its president, Pedro Rocha.

“Your three countries have already given so much to football, countries with a great passion for the game, great organizational skills and a shared vision of what football and its values should be! It’s fantastic that you’ve united two continents in the dream of hosting the FIFA World Cup! Soccer unites the world, and you’re proving it with this bid,” declared Infantino, upon receiving the bid documents from the candidate Federations.

During the event, the officials from the three candidate Federations presented the vision of their tripartite bid. Lekjaa stressed that “we are proud and honored to present a historic bid for our three countries, in line with the vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.”

“We are truly convinced that our bid will be a heritage for today’s generations and a legacy for those to come. We are working to ensure that the 2030 FIFA World Cup brings together people from all over the world and makes all Africans proud,” he added.

For his part, Gomes noted that “the bid file we have submitted here today proposes a vision for the future, where the environmental aspect is a structuring pillar of the event. It integrates the needs of the competition with the expectations and future of the cities and populations that will host the World Cup, while promoting inclusion and diversity as a solid foundation for our proposal!”

“42 years ago, our country hosted a World Cup: Spain 1982. More than 40% of our population hadn’t been born then. The 2030 World Cup shall unite those who witnessed it and those who did not. It will also unite three countries and two continents, thus leaving an intergenerational, international and intercontinental legacy,” said, for his part, de Miguel.

Driven by the ambition to organize a competition “for soccer, for the world, for tomorrow,” the joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup is embodied by the slogan “YallaVamos”.

“This slogan symbolizes a proactive effort to move soccer forward on a global scale,” the statement underlines, noting that considerable efforts have already been made throughout the campaign to promote this vision, with the bid having tens of thousands of followers on social networks.

By bringing together two continents, the press release added, “this bid opens a new page in the centenary history of the FIFA Men’s World Cup. To celebrate this, the bid focuses on building bridges between cultures, providing a welcoming environment for fans and visitors from all backgrounds, and leaving a real legacy in terms of sustainability, innovation, investment and social impact.”

Detailing the bid’s vision and technical planning, including transport, accommodation, and proposed infrastructure for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the completion of the bid documents represents “a major milestone for the bid organization efforts,” the press release added, noting that the full bid documents will be published by FIFA in due course.

The joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup is backed by an impressive group of ambassadors, including soccer legends from each nation – Luis Figo, Andres Iniesta and Nourredine Naybet – and legend Emmanuel Adebayor, as well as leading players from current men’s and women’s national teams: Cristiano Ronaldo, Achraf Hakimi, Dolores Silva, Ghizlane Chebbak, Alvaro Morata, Irene Paredes, and Yassine Bounou.

The final decision on the host countries for the 2030 FIFA World Cup will be taken by a vote of the FIFA Congress on December 11, 2024.