Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 men’s World Cup, FIFA formally announced Wednesday. And in 2030, Morocco, Portugal and Spain will co-host the centennial tournament, with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay each hosting a single match.
The bidding process for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups faced little competition and were ultimately decided before Wednesday’s Extraordinary FIFA Congress meeting, where the soccer governing body’s president, Gianni Infantino, made it official.
After the United States, Canada and Mexico make history hosting World Cup 2026 in three countries, World Cup 2030 will be hosted across three continents for the first time.
The return to Uruguay is to commemorate the first World Cup, hosted and won by the South American country in 1930, where Argentina was the runner-up. Conmebol, the South American Football Confederation, is headquartered in Paraguay.
The World Cup returns to Spain for the first time since 1982, while Portugal, Morocco and Paraguay will host World Cup matches for the first time. Morocco will become the first north African nation to host the tournament, which was first held in the continent when South Africa hosted in 2010.
World Cup 2034 will return to the Middle East 12 years after the Qatar World Cup in 2022. Just like Qatar, Saudi Arabia comes with its heap of challenges, including human rights and environmental issues, weather and scheduling concerns, along with working conditions for stadiums and other infrastructure needed in the next 10 years.
With FIFA rotating the World Cup among continental regions, the competitions for the 2030 and 2034 bids were not as competitive.
Infantino initially shared the destinations for World Cup 2030 on Oct. 4, 2023, leaving only 25 days for Australia, in the Oceania Federation, to put a bid together while Saudi Arabia’s was already prepared for the opportunity. Australia and Indonesia briefly pursued a joint bid for the 2034 tournament.
The window for Saudi Arabia to submit a bid for Asia essentially fell into the country’s lap with the 2026 iteration being played in North America, and 2030 being played in Europe, North Africa and South America.
Saudi Arabia, whose national soccer team delivered a shocking defeat to Lionel Messi and World Cup winners Argentina in the opening match in Qatar, has made a major sports and cultural push in recent years.
The Saudi Pro League has pursued some of soccer’s biggest names, landing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and other stars to elevate the sport in the region. The country also hosts major boxing, UFC and pro wrestling events, the annual Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and shook the golf landscape creating LIV Golf in 2021.