The battle to host the World Cup in its centenary has began

It has started the battle for the World Cup headquarters. The South Americans face strong competitors

88 years have passed since the first World Cup held in Uruguay in 1930, and although there are 12 years to go before the centenary cup is held, there are already competitors at the table to obtain the venue. The first candidacy looked strong, between Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, using the symbolism of Uruguay 1930 as a flag, but in a few months two more candidates joined the South Americans: one in Asia among Koreans, Japanese and Chinese, and the most recent among Spanish, Portuguese and Moroccan according to information from El País of Spain.

Leer en español: La batalla por ser la sede de la Copa Mundial en su centenario comenzó

Just on November 8, the South Americans met in the AFA to ratify what they had agreed at the end of 2017, to launch their joint candidacy, which begins little by little to take shape, with the creation of committees and definition of financial aspects, agreement with ESPN. Last week, on November 19, Spanish President Pedro Sánchez made the proposal to the King of Morocco Mohamed VI and his Prime Minister Saadedín Al Othman, to jointly host the 2030 World Cup with Portugal.

The news, published by El País, quickly generated reactions around the world, first because it faces the South American candidacy that still seems the strongest because it is the centenary. Also because it would be the first football championship to be held on two continents, since it would be organized between UEFA and CAF, that is, between Europe and Africa. Spain is the only one that has experience organizing an event of this magnitude, in 1964 it organized the European Championship, in 1982 it hosted the World Cup, in addition to the Olympic Games of Barcelona in 1992, while Portugal organized the 2004 European Championship with great success.

Both countries have the first-class infrastructure to host, while Morocco is guaranteed investment in top-level stadiums and the experience gained by its multiple applications, the most recent this year for the headquarters obtained by Mexico, the United States and Canada for 2026.

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What is Spain, Portugal, and Morocco facing?

First to reach agreements between them. After the initial euphoria, the Moroccan government has declared that the joint candidacy is not yet a fact, that as soon as they have information about it they will announce it. In other words, they still take it with caution as reported by Gestión de Perú. In addition, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa is enthusiastic, but being clear that FIFA must be willing to change its statutes so that countries from two continents can jointly organize the World Cup.

Morocco, on the other hand, has a great opportunity to host after five unsuccessful attempts, having now the support of UEFA with the Iberian countries, which would make his candidacy strong. However, it also has an offer from Algeria and Tunisia for a possible Maghrebi candidacy for 2030, the decision of Morocco can affect the voting for the election. That is, if he decides to join the Europeans he could lose votes from those who support Algeria and Tunisia, while if he joins the Maghreb countries he could lose votes from Europe. The bicontinental bid would also have to fight for the votes of CONCACAF which, according to AS, received this year the 10 votes from South America for the Americans to win the 2026 seat.

As if that were not enough, they have just under two years to organize everything, because South America has asked FIFA to advance the election of the World Cup to 2020, as it was originally scheduled for 2022, according to RTVE. Finally, there are two more candidates that may face them, the first and which looks stronger of the two, is formed by the two Koreas, China, and Japan, whose strength would be based on the message of peace by bringing together the peninsula of Korea in a high-level sporting event, according to El Economista de México. The other candidature would be, according to Half Time, which would integrate Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Romania announced in November after a meeting between the heads of government of the 4 countries.

LatinAmerican Post | Luis Ángel Hernández Liborio

Translated from "La batalla por ser la sede de la Copa Mundial en su centenario comenzó"

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