Spain And Portugal Set To Launch Joint Bid To Host 2030 World Cup

By Joshua Walters

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) have confirmed that they are set to launch a joint bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

Qatar will be the host country for the tournament in 2022 after Russia held it in a grandstand in 2018.

But the 2026 edition will be hosted by three countries; Canada, United States and Mexico as the federations were backed by their respective governments to host football's biggest tournament.

Both Spain and Portugal launched a bid to host it in 2018 but were overtaken by Russia to stage it. 

The final decision over who hosts the event for the 2018 and 2022 was made in Zurich by Fifa in December 2010 as the process led to subsequent investigation process being conducted due to the suspicious nature of the voting process.

Hosting the World Cup is something many countries would like to achieve, but the process to emerge as a host nation still remains a difficult one. 

South Africa is the only African country to have staged the event in 2010, a period Spain won its first World Cup trophy with Andres Iniesta scoring the only goal of the game against the Netherlands.

Should the bid end successfully, it will be Spain's second time of hosting the tournament after staging it for the first time in 1962 which was won by Italy, while it will be Portugal's first time as a host nation.