This Friday, FIFA announced some important dates for the 2030 World Cup, which, it was announced on Wednesday, will be played in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, in addition to three games in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. The tournament begins on June 8th in Montevideo and the final will take place on July 21st at an as yet undisclosed location. In addition, a so-called “centenary celebration” will be held in the Uruguayan capital to commemorate the hundred years of history that will then conclude the championship. The official opening ceremony and the opening games, however, will take place on June 13th and 14th, just under a week later, in Spain, Portugal or Morocco.
According to FIFA on its website, there will be sufficient rest time for the teams, which have to play their first matches on South American territory before traveling to the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. This will be the case in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and the respective first rivals of these three countries.
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FIFA also announced the dates for the second group matchday of these three teams, which will be played between June 21 and 22. “The planned calendar provides approximately 11 to 12 days for the six teams playing in South America to travel and rest before their second match,” noted the highest authority in world football.
“In a divided world, FIFA and football unite,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement last Wednesday. “It was unanimously decided to celebrate in the most appropriate way the 100th anniversary of the FIFA World Cup, the first edition of which was held in Uruguay in 1930. That’s why South America is celebrating and three South American countries (Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay) will each host a game in the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The first of these three games will of course be played in the stadium where it all began, the legendary Centenario Stadium in Montevideo, precisely to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup,” Infantino added.
The agreement between the candidacy led by Spain and the South American team was adopted and approved by the FIFA Council last Wednesday afternoon. This unexpected move took shape as a result of the Rubiales case, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The Spanish-Portuguese-Moroccan option was the big favorite to organize the entire event, but the situation changed with the scandal that broke out after the former president of the association gave a non-consensual kiss to the soccer player Jennifer Hermoso in August celebrations for Title won by Spain at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The FIFA Congress, consisting of the 211 member associations, will officially decide on the organization of the World Cup in the fourth quarter of 2024.
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