{"id":523251,"date":"2025-10-23T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/523251\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:44:10","slug":"world-cup-2030-sparks-controversy-over-final-match-venue-between-spain-portugal-morocco-impossible-to-explain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/523251\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2030 sparks controversy over final match venue between Spain, Portugal, Morocco: \u201cImpossible to explain\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While the next major event on the calendar is the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com\/tag\/world-cup\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"FIFA World Cup 2026\" rel=\"noopener\">FIFA World Cup 2026<\/a><\/strong>, set to take place in the United States, Mexico, and Canada next summer, much of the attention is already shifting toward the 2030 edition \u2014 another multi-nation tournament. <strong>Spain, Portugal, <\/strong>and <strong>Morocco <\/strong>will host the majority of matches, though the location of the final remains unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Reports suggest there are currently three possible scenarios for the championship match. Two of them are in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com\/tag\/spain\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Spain\" rel=\"noopener\">Spain<\/a><\/strong>, at the country\u2019s most iconic stadiums: <strong>Real Madrid\u2019s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium<\/strong> and <strong>Barcelona\u2019s Camp Nou<\/strong>. However, Morocco has expressed a strong desire to stage the final in Casablanca.<\/p>\n<p>The president of the <strong>Royal Spanish Football Federation<\/strong> gave a firm response when asked about the issue. <strong>\u201cI think it would be impossible to explain that Spain is not the host of the World Cup final,\u201d <\/strong>said <strong>Rafael Louzan<\/strong> during a talk at the Nueva Economia Forum, according to Marca.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>Spain has 55% of the organizational weight. It\u2019s only natural that Spain should host the final,\u201d<\/strong> Louzan continued, outlining his main argument. \u201cThere will be a five-billion-euro impact on GDP and 2.5 billion euros invested in stadium renovations\u2026 those of us involved in soccer need to stay united.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyBoZWlnaHQ9IjY3NSIgd2lkdGg9IjEyMDAiIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4xIi8+\"\/> The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium is one of the possible venues for the World Cup 2030 final.   A historic World Cup in 2030 <\/p>\n<p>Just as the World Cup 2026 will make history as the first tournament featuring 48 teams \u2014 and the first hosted by three different nations \u2014 the 2030 edition could take things even further. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com\/news\/world-cup-2030-format-expansion-under-scrutiny-brazil-and-argentina-reportedly-not-aligned\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Regarding the format, there are proposals to expand participation to 64 teams\" rel=\"noopener\">Regarding the format, there are proposals to expand participation to 64 teams<\/a><\/strong>, though that idea has sparked heated debate.<\/p>\n<p>One thing is certain: <strong>the World Cup 2030 will be the largest in history in terms of geographic reach<\/strong>. To commemorate the centennial of the first-ever World Cup, several matches will take place in South America, with <strong>Uruguay, Argentina, <\/strong>and <strong>Paraguay<\/strong> selected as host nations.<\/p>\n<p>The majority of games will then move to the three main host countries: Spain, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com\/tag\/portugal\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Portugal\" rel=\"noopener\">Portugal<\/a><\/strong>, and Morocco. This setup brings two unprecedented milestones \u2014 <strong>it will be the first World Cup hosted by six different countries and the first ever played across three continents<\/strong>: South America, Europe, and Africa.<\/p>\n<p> Potential venues for the World Cup 2030 <\/p>\n<p>During his appearance at the Nueva Economia Forum, Royal Spanish Football Federation president Rafael Louzan also discussed the selection process for the 2030 venues, emphasizing that <strong>\u201cthe final decision will rest with FIFA.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Still, speculation continues to swirl around the cities and stadiums most likely to host tournament matches. In South America, <strong>Estadio Monumental<\/strong> in Buenos Aires, <strong>Estadio Centenario<\/strong> in Montevideo (which hosted the entire 1930 World Cup), and <strong>Estadio Osvaldo Dominguez Dibb<\/strong> in Asunci\u00f3n appear to be the top candidates.<\/p>\n<p>In <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com\/tag\/morocco\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Morocco\" rel=\"noopener\">Morocco<\/a><\/strong>, six cities are in contention to host games \u2014 Agadir, Casablanca, Fez, Marrakesh, Rabat, and Tangier. In Casablanca, the construction of the <strong>Hassan II Stadium<\/strong>, with a projected capacity of 115,000 spectators, positions it as Spain\u2019s main rival for the right to stage the final.<\/p>\n<p>In Portugal, the spotlight will fall on three storied grounds: <strong>Estadio da Luz <\/strong>(Benfica) and <strong>Estadio Jose Alvalade<\/strong> (Sporting CP) in Lisbon, and <strong>Estadio do Dragao<\/strong> in Porto, each representing one of the nation\u2019s soccer powerhouses.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Spain is expected to feature around eight host cities for the World Cup 2030. Two of them may have multiple venues: Madrid, with Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and <strong>Metropolitano Stadium<\/strong> (Atletico Madrid), and Barcelona, with Camp Nou and <strong>Estadi Cornella-El Prat<\/strong> (Espanyol). The other cities include La Coru\u00f1a, Bilbao, Las Palmas, San Sebastian, Seville, and Zaragoza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the next major event on the calendar is the FIFA World Cup 2026, set to take place&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,6489,3046,104,1514],"class_list":{"0":"post-523251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-morocco","11":"tag-portugal","12":"tag-spain","13":"tag-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115425907222763661","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}