Focused on the 100-year anniversary of the inaugural World Cup, four nations in South America officially submitted a bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

Those countries are Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay. The first three from that list have all hosted at least one World Cup in the past. Uruguay’s inclusion in the list is of particular note, as it was the host for that first World Cup in 1930. It also won the World Cup on home soil.

A joint bid between the four nations has long been in the works. However, this official bid wants the tournament to “return where football was born.”

“The 2030 World Cup is not just another World Cup, it deserves a celebration with recognition for 100 years,” said Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American confederation CONMEBOL. Dominguez spoke with representatives of each of the four nations during a ceremony in Argentina. He, along with the rest of South America is excited at the potential to host the 2030 World Cup.

“We are convinced that FIFA has an obligation to honour the memory of those who came before us and believed in greatness and made the first World Cup,” Dominguez said.

South America not alone in bid to host 2030 World Cup

The CONMEBOL bid is the second official bid for the 2030 World Cup. The other comes out of UEFA, which submitted a joint hosting from Spain, Portugal and Ukraine. Ukraine only joined the proposal in October of 2022.

However, there are other locations yet to submit official bids that are all but assured to do so.

The biggest competitor is likely Saudi Arabia. Not only has Saudi Arabia aligned itself with FIFA’s advertisements at other World Cups, but it expressed interest in a joint bid with Egypt and Greece. While it would be a fairly spread out World Cup, it would encapsulate three continents. Of course, Saudi Arabia has a comparable human rights record to Qatar, which controversially hosted the 2022 World Cup.

A final potential host is Morocco, which has been in the mix for hosting the World Cup on a number of occasions. It narrowly missed out on hosting the 2026 World Cup, won by the United States, Mexico and Canada. If Morocco does submit a bid to host, it will be the country’s sixth bid to host the World Cup.

Photo: IMAGO / Panthermedia