From left: The national flags of Portugal, Spain and Morocco. The trio will make a joint bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. /CGTN
Morocco will join Spain and Portugal to make a joint bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2023, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
"I would like to announce that the Kingdom of Morocco has decided, together with Spain and Portugal, to present a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup," Morocco's King Mohammed VI said in a letter read by the country's minister of sport Chakib Benmoussa at FIFA's Congress in Kigali, Rwanda last week.
"This joint bid, which is unprecedented in football history, will bring together Africa and Europe, the northern and southern Mediterranean, and the African, Arab and Euro-Mediterranean worlds. It will also bring out the best in all of us – in effect, a combination of genius, creativity, experience and means," the letter said.
Morocco bid for the top global football tournament several times before but never succeeded. It came close to becoming the host for the World Cup in 2010 but lost the race to South Africa. This time, the north African country replaced Ukraine, which was originally the partner of Spain and Portugal for the bid.
The national flags of Argentina (top-L), Chile (top-R), Paraguay (bottom-L) and Uruguay, the group of four will also make a joint bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. /CGTN
Morocco hosted the FIFA Club World Cup in February. Its national team impressed the world by becoming the first African team to reach the World Cup semifinals in Qatar last year. They knocked out Belgium, Spain and Portugal in the competitions.
The other confirmed joint bid for the 2030 World Cup comes from Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay. Argentina, Chile and Uruguay hosted the tournament in 1978, 1962 and 1930, respectively.
Argentina won the World Cup championship in Qatar in 2022. The next edition of the tournament will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada in 2026. For the first time in history, there will be 48 teams competing in it in 104 games.
(Graphics designed by CGTN's Yu Peng)