2030 World Cup Bid: Which Nations are in the Running for 2030 World Cup Hosting Rights?

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By Martin Graham | 29th Mar 2022

Hosting the World Cup is a big deal for nations for many reasons, commercial and footballing alike. Qatar’s preparation has entered top gear and the teams to participate in the football festival will soon be known.

It is now time to look forward to the future of the biggest trophy in football, the FIFA World Cup.

The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the CONCACAF nations; United States, Canada and Mexico. The 2030 edition, however, has no host(s) yet and from all the early sensations, it is going to be a fiercely contested battle between confederations and nations to win the hosting rights for the global showpiece.

It is set to be a fiercely contested battle to host the 24th edition of the tournament, especially because it will be taking place in the 100th year of the World Cup’s establishment. Here are the leading nations for the upcoming bid in June 2024.

The United Kingdom’s bid

The four nations that make up the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales – and the Republic of Ireland are planning to launch a joint bid for the 2030 World Cup. News coming out from the media in the region, however, is that some figures in the England Football Association are in favour of bidding for the Euro 2028 tournament instead.

This is because England – who have already hosted the 1966 World Cup – has failed in their bids to host 1990, 1998, 2008, and 2018 World Cups. If the UK and Ireland choose to bid instead for the 2028 Euros, other European nations bidding could stand a better chance.

Portugal and Spain are reported to have reached an agreement to join forces to bid for the World Cup, and Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece are all interested in hosting the 2030 edition.

Uruguay and Argentina joint bid

Uruguay, the hosts of the first-ever World Cup in 1930 are looking to come full circle by hosting the 100th edition of the tournament. This they want to do jointly with Argentina, who they beat in the final of that very first tournament to become the first world champions.

News from the CONMEBOL region have also stated that other CONMEBOL nations – Paraguay and Chile – are pining to join the joint bid from Uruguay and Argentina. There are also reports of a separate proposal from Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, but perhaps getting behind one bid could give South America the best chance of hosting the tournament for the fifth time in its history.

Morocco’s bid

Africa has only hosted the global showpiece once, in 2010 with South Africa representing the continent to the best of their ability. Morocco is going to bid for the 100th year anniversary of the World Cup again after having failed to win the 2026 hosting rights, the fifth time they had failed to win a hosting bid.

However, reports from the region claim that Morocco may want to strengthen their bid by joining forces with the other North African giants; Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.