Portugal will host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Morocco
Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo and Prime Minister Luís Montenegro were among the first figures to celebrate the confirmation of Portugal as a co-host of the 2030 FIFA World Cup this Wednesday afternoon.
“It gives me great joy and pride to know that my country is going to host the 2030 World Cup and that the Portugal national team will be able to play the games of such an important competition at home and in front of their fans,” Ronaldo said in a statement.
“It’s an extraordinary achievement for the Portuguese Football Federation and its president, Fernando Gomes, and from today onwards a responsibility for all the Portuguese. I’m sure that, together with Spain and Morocco, they will make this World Cup a unique opportunity to promote our country,” said the 39-year-old footballer.
Luís Montenegro also celebrated the news in Parliament this afternoon.
“Portugal, together with Spain and Morocco, has just been awarded the task of hosting the 2030 World Cup by international football bodies and I want to say here, on behalf of the government, that it’s a very positive moment, it’s a moment that will mobilise a lot of resources, a lot of our capacity to organise events, to promote the country and it will also have an economic return,” he said.
The prime minister also paid public tribute to Fernando Gomes, considering that his performance and that of his team “has been decisive in recent years in ensuring the credibility” of Portugal “also in the organisation of major events” in an international context.
“I’m convinced that this will be a great moment of affirmation of our values and our passion in this specific area,” the PM said.
Portugal, Spain and Morocco will organise the 2030 World Cup, FIFA officially announced today, after voting on the single bid during its extraordinary congress in Zurich.
As the sole candidate, the bid by Portugal, Spain and Morocco, called ‘Yalla Vamos!’, foresees that the bulk of the tournament will be played in these three countries, while three matches will take place in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, as a way of celebrating the centenary of the competition, whose first edition was held in Uruguay in 1930.
The three Portuguese stadiums that will host World Cup2030 matches will be the Estádio da Luz, the Estádio José Alvalade, both in Lisbon, and the Estádio do Dragão, in Porto, with the Benfica venue (Estádio da Luz) – the only one of the three with a minimum capacity of 60,000 seats – hosting one of the semi-finals of the competition.
Portugal is making its debut in organising World Cups, having already hosted the 2004 European Championship, while Spain organised the Euro 1964 and the 1982 World Cup and Morocco only hosted the African Cup of Nations (CAN) in 1988.
Source: LUSA
