The 2030 World Cup will be held in 6 countries on 3 continents.
The 2030 World Cup will be held in 6 countries on 3 continents. And that's how FIFA celebrates the 100th anniversary of the tournament.
Spain, Portugal and Morocco will be the official hosts of the World Cup, but the first three matches will be played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to recall the tournament's South American origins.
The breakthrough is the result of months of closed-door meetings between UEFA and South American and African football confederations.
They proposed the plan to FIFA, which has backed the idea in principle to avoid a lengthy and costly bidding process. The decision will be announced at the FIFA Congress next year.
All six host nations will automatically qualify for the 48-team tournament, with the number of South American teams participating in the World Cup cut from the usual six by default and one by play-off.
Spain, Portugal and Morocco have been the frontrunners to host the 2030 World Cup since they announced a joint proposal earlier this year.
Uruguay and Argentina want to host the 100th World Cup together from 2017, an interesting proposal as they played in the first World Cup final in 1930, which was hosted by Uruguay and won by them.
Saudi Arabia also held talks with Greece and Egypt last year about submitting a joint proposal, but the oil-rich kingdom announced its candidacy for 2034 instead of 2030.
The first match in 2030 will take place in Montevideo to honor Uruguay, the first World Cup champion in history and also the first host country of the World Cup.
The second match will be held in Argentina. The third match will be held in Paraguay to celebrate the country's status as the home of the South American Football Confederation, CONMEBOL. The remaining 101 matches will be played in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
