Football : The Morocco, Portugal and Spain share their vision for the FIFA World Cup 2030

The presidents of the football federations of Morocco, Portugal and Spain met today in Rabat to sign a letter confirming their interest in bidding for the FIFA World Cup 2030 and to share their vision of the tournament with the world.

The application process having been officially launched by FIFA, the presidents of the three federations met in person to confirm their interest in the candidacy – the first step of the FIFA application process – and celebrate this official milestone together.
 
Fouzi Lekjaa, President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Fernando Gomes, President of the Portuguese Football Federation and Pedro Rocha, President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, shared their vision for a tournament that strengthens the legacy of the FIFA World Cup, develops football and has an impact around the world.
 
100 years after the first FIFA World Cup, all three countries want to leverage their unique footballing heritage, of their living traditions and a thousand years of intertwined cultures and common history to organize an inclusive tournament, innovative and sustainable, in a true spirit of celebration. To achieve this, world Cup 2030 will be organized as an accessible and fan-focused tournament, which will benefit the entire football ecosystem.
 
The FIFA World Cup 2030 in Morocco, in Portugal and Spain will be the first men's World Cup held on two continents and will focus on strengthening ties between Europe, Africa and the rest of the world. The Intercontinental World Cup will therefore be an opportunity to highlight the diversity of football, to foster collaboration between nations and leave a strong social legacy in the three countries, but also all over the world.
 
Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, highlighted the historical aspects of the joint bid of the two continents and three countries for the FIFA World Cup 2030 :
 
“It’s a World Cup that will help us further unite our common civilizations established over a decade ago. The three countries share a common history, a common present and look towards a common future. All this demonstrates, from both shores of the Mediterranean, that collective success is possible and that prosperity can have a shared and collective perspective”.
 
Fernando Gomes, president of the Portuguese Football Federation, underlined the ambition represented by the organization of the FIFA World Cup 2030 and the mark that the three countries want to leave :
 
“This is a historic moment as it marks the official start of our process with FIFA to be able to organize the FIFA World Cup in 2030. This is a big moment for us, highly symbolic since it is the centenary of the first edition of the tournament. More 2030 will be much more than a celebration of the past ! Thanks to the ambition and competence of our three federations, we believe this tournament will mark a paradigm shift in the way major events will be organized in the future. This is our ambition ! ».
 
Pedro Rocha, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, highlighted the unique opportunity for collaboration between different football federations, countries and people :
 
“This candidacy is a message of hope and unity, because this World Cup will be a demonstration of the union of cultures and the promotion of inclusion, diversity and respect. It will be a World Cup with an important social legacy that will remain in Morocco, au Portugal, in Spain and around the world. We have a common project that will arouse enthusiasm everywhere. Let's make this dream come true !
 
Regarding the stadiums of the three countries that will be included in the final bid, all three presidents agreed that it was premature at this stage to make decisions on this matter, because the studies and evaluation work of the technical teams are in progress.
 
The next step in FIFA's World Cup bidding process 2030 will consist of the three Federations submitting the candidacy agreements to FIFA at the end of November 2023.