Feijóo sets a condition on Spain's co-hosting role
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who leads the conservative People's Party and is the front-runner in opinion polls before Spain's snap general election on November 29, said Spain ought to abandon its part in staging the 2030 FIFA World Cup should Morocco be handed the final. He made the statement during an appearance on the Spanish football programme El Chiringuito, broadcast late on Thursday.[S1][S2][S3]
According to Feijóo, the closing match has to take place in Spain, which he described as the rightful, suitable and unquestionable location given the country's record of putting on major sporting occasions. He added that if Spain does not stage that game, it should step away from organising the tournament altogether. When asked directly whether he would back a Spanish withdrawal in the event Morocco got the final, he answered in the affirmative.[S1][S2][S3]
Feijóo said he would act on that stance were he to become prime minister after the vote. He also pointed out that Spain and Portugal had put together the original joint bid before Morocco was added to it. On Friday he restated the position on the social platform X, framing the matter around national pride and arguing that the sport's leading nation should not be treated dismissively.[S1][S2]
FIFA has yet to choose where the final will be played
Spain, Portugal and Morocco were formally confirmed as the main co-hosts of the 2030 edition. Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will each stage one centenary fixture honouring the first World Cup, which Uruguay hosted in 1930. The three principal hosts are now competing over which of them gets the final.[S1][S2]
Real Madrid's refurbished Santiago Bernabéu has been put forward as Spain's principal candidate, while Morocco is promoting the planned Grand Stade Hassan II at Benslimane, close to Casablanca. The Moroccan ground is projected to hold roughly 115,000 people, which could place it among the biggest football stadiums anywhere. Fouzi Lekjaa, who heads the Moroccan Football Federation and is counted among FIFA president Gianni Infantino's most loyal backers, said in September that the final would take place in Morocco regardless of whether some people approved. FIFA later stated that nothing had been settled and that it would name the host venue when the time came.[S1][S2]
Both the Spanish government and the Spanish Football Federation have said in the past that they want the final played on Spanish soil. Spain's national team won this year's World Cup, a detail Feijóo's opponents and supporters alike have weighed in a country where football carries heavy public weight.[S1][S2]
A football row folded into an election campaign
The argument unfolds against troubled ties between Madrid and Rabat. In July, tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, a Spanish territory on North Africa's coast, in a mass migrant entry. Feijóo characterised that movement as an invasion and blamed Morocco for it, promising a firmer line toward the country should he take office.[S2]
The People's Party sits ahead of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialists in the polls before the early election, though it might require backing from the far-right Vox to govern. Vox has likewise urged a harder approach to Morocco, contending that the country menaces Spanish sovereignty and deploys migration as leverage.[S2]
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said on Friday that he too believed the 2030 final ought to be staged in Spain, while making clear that his priority was building a side capable of winning another World Cup. He told a news conference, held after he named his squad for forthcoming Nations League fixtures, that other matters should be left to those responsible for them.[S2]
