Portugal and Spain Set to Bid for 2030 World Cup as Spanish FA Confirm Joint Effort

The Spanish FA have today confirmed that they and Portugal will make a joint effort to host the 2030 World Cup. 

Spain and Portugal will join a host of other countries also launching joint bids for the 24th World Cup, such as the Uruguayan, Argentinian, Paraguayan and Chilean bid and the Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian and Serbian joint bid.

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As reported by Football Espana, the two countries will now be looking at seeing if a joint bid is viable and the respective football organisations will pitch this bid to their governments. If this is successful, they could submit an official bid to FIFA. 

Spain last hosted the World Cup in 1982 whereas Portugal have never hosted a World Cup, although they did host the 2004 European Championship. 

At this point in time, there are only three confirmed bids to host the 2030 World Cup, with the aforementioned Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile bid and Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Serbia bid, as well as a Morocco bid. 

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The British Isles are also reported to be interested in submitting a bid, while Cameroon and Egypt have also expressed an interest.

The quality of Spain's stadiums has improved in recent years, with the opening of Atlético's spectacular Wanda Metropolitano as well as modern renovations to La Liga sides Real Betis' and Real Sociedad's stadiums. Athletic Bilbao's San Mamés opened back in 2013 and will host some matches in the 2020 European Championship. 

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In addition to this, Portugal still has many (relatively) new stadiums left over from the 2004 European Championship, although these may need renovations before 2030. However, FIFA will surely view Spain and Portugal's abundance of modern stadiums as a positive should they submit a bid.