María Ángeles García, president of the RFEF Management Commission: “It will be a meeting point between countries, continents and generations”
LAS ROZAS (MADRID), 11 (EUROPA PRESS) Spain, Portugal and Morocco will officially organize the 2030 Soccer World Cup, the centenary of the tournament, after receiving unanimous support this Wednesday during the vote held during the Extraordinary FIFA Congress .
The three main parties of the candidacy saw this decision from their countries, with the Spanish celebrating it in an event in the City of Football with the presence of Pilar Alegría, Minister of Education, FP and Sports, Víctor Ángel Torres, Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Fernando Molinero, general director of Sports of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), Mariano de Paco, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Community of Madrid, and Vicente del Bosque, president of the Commission of Representation, Standardization and Supervision of the RFEF, among others.
This decision opens a new stage in a project that was born more than three years ago, promoted by the two Iberian countries and that has been adding and subtracting support during this time. With the entry and exit of Ukraine, the accession of Morocco and the appearance of three South American countries, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, which, together with Chile, had also launched a candidacy that was finally discarded. Now, the first three will each host a match to honor the first edition of the tournament, which was played in 1930 in the Uruguayan country, with the first in the Centennial of Montevideo.
“This is a project of three countries, three great nations that share so much and that now have a great common adventure ahead of them with this tournament that they aspire to organize together,” said María Ángeles García Chaves, president of the Managing Commission of the Royal Federation. FEF, during the presentation of the candidacy prior to the vote.
With special mention to HM King Felipe VI, the leader thanked everyone who has been involved in this candidacy, which shows Spain’s great desire to “be again organizers of a World Cup, the highest football competition on the planet.” “, after that of 1982.
“This 2030 World Cup will unite several generations, those who remembered the 1982 World Cup and the millions of Spaniards who did not experience it. It is a meeting point between countries, continents and generations. And within Spain, it will allow communities and regions to unite because The entire country will be able to experience its excitement up close, whether as the headquarters, training and concentration place for the different teams. We have six years of hard work ahead of us, but we have the commitment, the professionalism and the enormous will of everything. a country,” he concluded.
For his part, Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Moroccan Federation, expressed his “gratitude for having made this moment of shared happiness possible and extremely valuable in many ways.” “First, for its universal representativeness rarely seen in other areas. I thank you for the trust you have placed in my country and in Portugal and Spain,” he said.
The leader thanked “the enlightened vision” of Mohamed VI, “which will contribute not only to making the organization a success” but also to “making it a reality that sport in general and football in particular are a lever for socioeconomic development.” and human.” “This tripartite candidacy will go down in history and not in vain,” he remarked, detailing that this World Cup will be organized “simultaneously in Africa, the cradle of Humanity, and in the old continent of Europe.”
Finally, Fernando Gomes, president of the Portuguese Federation, did not hide that for two years they have gone through “a very intense time”, but that they were “proud” to have taken on “this challenge”. “Morocco, Portugal and Spain present a very diverse, multicultural and intercontinental candidacy,” said the president, who made clear the importance of the “legacy” and “investing to have a social impact.”
“Football has to maintain its essence and also adapt to new times and the changes they bring. We hope that the 2030 World Cup will be remembered as a great achievement, that it will also serve to celebrate its Centennial, but at the same time it will serve to introduce the necessary innovations looking towards the future,” he added.
Representatives of the three countries that will host matches in South America also participated, where “football is lived with a lot of passion,” according to the president of CONMEBOL, Alejandro Domínguez, who stressed that Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay were “ready” to make the match. World Cup and “uniting three continents.”
MOROCCO, RIVAL OF SPAIN FOR HAVING THE FINAL
The project, chosen in October 2023 by the governing body of world football as the only candidate to organize this World Cup, an event for which no one else presented their intentions, will also face a new stage in which the instability that has surrounded the RFEF since last year and could come to an end this coming Monday with the election of a new president.
MOROCCO, RIVAL FOR THE FINAL
Under the motto ‘Yalla Vamos’, the evaluators already gave a very high score to this candidacy in their last one, 4.2 out of 5, the highest in history for a project where Spain, organizer of the 1982 World Cup and which lost against Russia The 2018 edition has a total of eleven stadiums, with the question of whether Mestalla (Valencia) can be re-engaged.
Santiago Bernabéu and Riyadh Air Metropolitano, in Madrid, Spotify Camp Nou and the RCDE Stadium, in Barcelona, San Mamés (Bilbao), La Cartuja (Seville), Reale Arena (San Sebastián), Gran Canaria Stadium (Las Palmas), La Rosaleda (Málaga), La Nueva Romareda (Zaragoza) and ABANCA Riazor (A Coruña) are the selected ones.
Two of them, the remodeled and modern ones of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, are opting to be the venue for the final, another of the points that have been marked these months by the strength of Morocco with its future Grand Hassan II Stadium in Casablanca. In fact, these three venues, which could also host the inaugural clash, received the highest score (4.3) in the report.
The North African country will host a World Cup for the first time and as the second in Africa to do so after the historic one in South Africa in 2010 and will have six venues. Before, he had already been a solo candidate to celebrate 2026, clearly falling before the joint project of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Portugal, which has never had a World Cup, but has had a Euro Cup (2004), will only have three, two in Lisbon (Da Luz and José Alvalade) and Do Dragao in Porto.