Cristiano Ronaldo led the celebrations after Portugal and five other countries were officially announced as hosts of the 2030 Men’s World Cup on Wednesday, with the player saying the unique tournament would be the “most special” in history.
The 2030 tournament will be the first World Cup to be played in six different countries, with Spain, Portugal and Morocco as the main hosts, with South American countries Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay each playing one match each. This format will help FIFA celebrate the centenary of Uruguay hosting the first World Cup in 1930.
“A dream come true,” Ronaldo, 39, wrote in an Instagram post that included a photo of him celebrating in a Portugal shirt and captioned: “The most special World Cup ever.”
Ronaldo is the only player to have scored in five World Cup tournaments, but it is unlikely he will still be playing in 2030.
“Portugal will host the World Cup in 2030 and it will be a reason for us to be proud,” he wrote.
Approval of the six-nation bid was largely a formality during FIFA’s online meeting on Wednesday, with Saudi Arabia officially confirmed as host of the 2034 World Cup.
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So reactions in Spain and Portugal were muted, but South American governing body CONMEBOL celebrated a day that, in the words of its president Alejandro Domínguez, “will go down in the history of South American football.”
“FIFA has decided to honor history. The World Cup is coming home,” Dominguez said at CONMEBOL headquarters in Paraguay. “We are at home, on the continent that hosted the first World Cup in history. The first World Cup was held in Uruguay, the first world champion country, and now we also have the last world champion, Argentina.
