Are multi-country hosts the future for World Cup tournaments?

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) recently announced that Morocco, Portugal and Spain’s joint bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup has been confirmed by the FIFA Council.

Along with Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay who will onlybe hosting the opening events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup in Uruguay back in 1930.

With Spain, Morocco and Portugal, as hosts, and Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina as hosts of the centenary celebration, they will all automatically qualify for the tournaments group stage.

FIFA President, Gianni Infantino said, “In a divided world, FIFA and football are uniting. The FIFA Council representing the entire world of football, unanimously agreed to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup, whose first edition was played in Uruguay in 1930, in the most appropriate way.”

The upcoming 2026 World Cup tournament will be held here in North America and will also have multiple host countries, the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Typically, the World Cup has been hosted by only one country besides the 2002 World Cup year when it was co-hosted by Japan and South Korea.

However, due to the recent expansion to the tournament from 32 to 48 teams, the possibility of multi-country hosts has been made possible.

With the announcement of the United States, Mexico and Canada hosting the 2026 World Cup tournament, it has raised some concerns with fans with the way FIFA is moving forward with how the tournament works.

Others argue that by allowing only one country to host the World Cup tournament, it allows fans to really experience and immerse themselves into the culture of that respective country.

With the even more recent news of the 2030 World Cup being held in not only multiple countries by over three continents (Europe, Africa and South America), this has caused even more questions and concerns.

Some say that because of the distance between stadiums, this will make it more difficult for not only the fans to truly experience the World Cup, but because of all of the traveling, it can tire out national teams.

Some argue that if there are too many host countries, ultimately certain countries will be neglected. The 2026 World Cup for example, although it will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States a majority of the matches will be held in the U.S. most notably the most important matches, the knockout rounds. Instead of several countries hosting, one country should have all the focus, so they get the feeling of a ‘real’ host country.

However, I would argue that there are more positives than negatives with multiple countries hosting a World Cup tournament.

One being that it is more cost effective.

Hosting a World Cup tournament is very expensive and that can take a huge economic toll on a country. According to The Economic Times, “Qatar spent nearly 16 times more to prepare for the 2022 FIFA World Cup than the amount invested by the previous host Russia.”

It is estimated that Qatar spent a whopping 220 billion on the 2022 World Cup. Hosting the World Cup is an investment and by sharing between multiple countries, lightens the financial burden and less infrastructure will need to be built to support sporting stadiums and instead reusing ones already built but across different countries.

Although countries like Mexico, Canada or Uruguay might not be able to host a tournament themselves due to size, by co-hosting this gives them the opportunity to.

I think it is a great way for fans to experience several different countries. I am personally excited for the 2030 tournament because Spain, Portugal and Morocco are countries I’ve always wanted to visit. I close enough geographically but they each have their own customs culture where you can experience different things.

Infantino goes on to say, “In 2030, we will have a unique global footprint, three continents—Africa, Europe and South America—six countries—Argentina, Morocco, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay—welcoming and uniting the world while celebrating together the beautiful game, the centenary and the FIFA World Cup.”