On this day, FIFA confirmed that the 2030 Men’s World Cup will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, and also assigned the following World Cup, the 2034 edition, to Saudi Arabia.
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In total, this tournament will consist of 104 matches and the South American connection will mark the centenary of the first World Cup, held in 1930 in Uruguay. But beyond appearing as "co-hosts," Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay will have only one match each.
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What will be the South American stadiums for the 2030 World Cup?
Gathered at the Conmebol headquarters in Paraguay to participate virtually in the FIFA Congress, the South American co-hosts celebrated their confirmation as hosts.
"It was decided to honor history. The World Cup returns to its home. We are in the house, on the continent that hosted its first World Cup. The first World Cup was played in Uruguay with the first nation to be world champion, and now we also have the current world champion, which is Argentina," said the head of the organization, Alejandro Domínguez.
Shortly after FIFA confirmed three South American countries as part of the six co-hosts for an unprecedented 2030 World Cup, Conmebol officially announced the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires and the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo, as well as the construction of a new venue in Asunción to host the three matches assigned to them.
In a strange decision, like everything surrounding the 2030 World Cup, the "first match" of the tournament (but not the official Opening) will be held at the Centenario Stadium, considered a football monument because the final of the first World Cup was played there in 1930, the year of its inauguration. However, the old venue at Parque Batlle will need to be renovated to meet FIFA's requirements.
With a capacity for 85,000 fans, the Monumental stadium of River Plate is the largest in Latin America. It is where Argentina won its first World Cup in 1978.
Paraguay will offer the new Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb stadium of the Olimpia club, which will have a capacity for 46,000 spectators and is named after the father of the Conmebol president. In addition, Alejandro Domínguez is a fan of Olimpia.
What will be the European stadiums for the 2030 World Cup?
Beyond all the noise and controversy generated in South America by the 2030 World Cup, most of this tournament will be held in Spain, which will have the following stadiums: Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid), Camp Nou (Barcelona), Anoeta (San Sebastián), Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), La Cartuja (Sevilla), La Rosaleda (Málaga), Metropolitano (Madrid), Nueva Romareda (Zaragoza), RCDE Stadium (Barcelona), Riazor (La Coruña), and San Mamés (Bilbao).
Stadiums in the cities of Casablanca, Agadir, Marrakech, Rabat, Tangier, and Fez in Morocco, plus Lisbon and Porto in Portugal will also be added.
This will be the first time that the World Cup is played on three continents and with three confederations. At the same time, it will be the first time that Portugal, Morocco, and Paraguay host a World Cup match.
The first three South American matches would take place on June 9, 2023, and then we would have to wait three or four days for the official opening (or second opening) in Europe.