The 2030 FIFA World Cup is set to be held on three continents in six different countries elaborating how the beautiful game of football can serve as a unifying factor in a world full of unending chaos. The World Cup tournament will take place in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco but the first three games will take place in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. The hosts will be officially appointed by the FIFA Congress next year. The choice for Uruguay to host the opening game of the 2030 World Cup is because Montevideo is the city that hosted the first World Cup finals match in 1930, where the host country Uruguay ended up bagging that year's trophy. Argentina's role in the hosting is as a result of them finishing as runners-up in the inaugural World Cup and Paraguay has been given the hosting rights because of the fact that it is the traditional home of CONMEBOL. The above three countries have already qualified for the 2030 finals and will play their opening games on home soil. The rest of the 48-team tournament will then proceed to be played in Europe and North America under a proposal from UEFA, the Confederation of African Football, and South American confederation CONMEBOL which was accepted by the FIFA council following a meeting on Wednesday. 

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The president of FIFA Gianni Infantino welcomed the proposal saying: "In a divided world, FIFA and football are uniting. In 2030, we will have a unique global footprint, three continents - Africa, Europe, and South America - and 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." Alejandro Dominguez president of the CONMEBOL said: "We aimed high and dreamed big. The 2030 Centenario World Cup starts where it all began. The host of the opening matches of the Centenario World Cup will be Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina." 

Not everybody was happy with the news, however, as the Football Supporters Europe group was deeply unimpressed by the arrangement and went ahead to post the following on the X social media platform: "FIFA continues its cycle of destruction against the greatest tournament on earth. Horrendous for supporters, disregards the environment, and rolls the red carpet out to a host for 2034 with an appalling human rights record. It's the end of the World Cup as we know it."  

In other news; Saudi Arabia will be launching their bid to host the 2034 World Cup and they are already considered to be the strongest candidates in contention for the global showpiece event. This is informed by the fact that the 2026 World Cup was awarded to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and now the awarding of the 2030 World Cup to Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay means that only bids from the Asian Football Confederation and the Oceania Football Confederation will be considered for the 2034 tournament. Australia is also expected to enter the running for the 2030 global showpiece event. Saudi Minister of Sport Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal via the Saudi Press Agency said in a statement: "Hosting a FIFA World Cup in 2034 would help us achieve our dream of becoming a leading nation in world sport and would mark a significant milestone in the country's transformation. As an emerging and welcoming home for all sports, we believe that hosting a FIFA World Cup is a natural next step in our football journey." The guess is that Saudi Arabia are going to be the overwhelming favourites to get the 2034 World Cup. 

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(Image: Punch Newspapers)