Spain and Portugal reactivate their joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup
Under the umbrella of the friendly match to be played Spain and Portugal Next Friday at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, the Heads of State and Government of both countries will make the official presentation of their joint proposal to organize the 2030 World Cup, an intention that they already announced on June 8, 2019.
It will be an act presided over by the king Philip VI and in which will be the president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the heads of government, Pedro Sanchez and António Costa, and the presidents of the federations of football, Luis Rubiales and Fernando Gomes.
The idea was launched in 2018 by Pedro Sánchez in the XXX Hispano-Lusa Summit which hosted the Spanish city of Valladolid, where the head of the Spanish Executive, in the presence of the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, proposed joint attendance at the 2030 World Cup to be organized by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
Later the option of Morocco vanished, although the federative and governmental bodies of Portugal and Spain maintained the idea and in June 2019 Rubiales and Gomes announced "an in-depth analysis process on the possibility of presenting a joint candidacy to organize the 2030 World Cup ".
The president of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), Fernando Gomes, has insisted during the pandemic that football has to look for other types of options and solutions and has been very supportive of the whole world cup.
Luis Rubiales expressed himself along the same lines on the day of the friendly between Portugal and Spain last October, when he said: "We work hand in hand with him. government and all institutions to, in times of pandemic, all work together for illusion and hope to host a World Cup. "
Even the former Portuguese footballer himself Pedro Pauleta, former player of Deportivo de la Coruña, UD Salamanca or Paris Saint Germain, assured EFE that "it is a very important candidacy for the world of football, since both Portugal and Spain have a great capacity to organize and are countries passionate about football ".
In the last two years, the federations of both countries have insisted that the idea is based on a joint work between the football estates and the governments of Spain and Portugal, so that they go hand in hand.
Even before the pandemic, the idea of gradually selecting those Iberian cities that were nominated as party venues.
Spain organized the World'82, while Portugal has not yet hosted the top men's national team tournament.
The choice of the venue for the 2030 World Cup will be decided in 2024.
