Key facts
- Feijóo said Spain should withdraw from co-hosting duties if Morocco was awarded the 2030 final.
- Feijóo said the 2030 tournament began as a Spanish-Portuguese bid before Morocco was invited.
- Rafael Louzán, Spain's football chief, told POLITICO in June he was confident Madrid or Barcelona would host the final.
- A Sigma Dos poll for El Mundo found 84.4% of Spaniards opposed co-hosting with Morocco after the Ceuta crisis.
- Sumar's resolution opposing shared hosting, backed by Vox, never reached a vote before parliament was dissolved.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the conservative People's Party leader and favorite to become Spain's next prime minister after this month's snap election, said on November 6 that Spain should not co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup if Morocco stages the final. Speaking on the sports TV show El Chiringuito, he said it is "fair, fitting and unquestionable" that Spain, "a global football power," hosts the final. "If it does not host it, Spain should not take part in organizing the World Cup," he said, and confirmed he would advocate Spain's withdrawal from co-hosting duties if Morocco was awarded the match.
Feijóo said the 2030 tournament was originally a Spanish-Portuguese bid until Morocco was invited at a later stage. Moroccan officials have been pushing to stage the final, and Morocco has spent heavily on football infrastructure. Rafael Louzán, Spain's football chief, told POLITICO in June he was confident either Madrid or Barcelona would host the final.
Spanish political parties accused Morocco this summer of stoking a migrant crisis in Spain's North African territory of Ceuta after 80,000 people entered the city in late July. A Sigma Dos poll for El Mundo after the Ceuta crisis found 84.4% of Spaniards opposed Spain continuing to co-host the World Cup with Morocco.
Sumar, the Socialists' junior coalition partner, said the World Cup "cannot be shared with a country that uses desperate people for its own geostrategic interests." The left-wing party tabled a resolution in parliament that Vox backed, an unusual convergence; the text never reached a vote because parliament was dissolved ahead of the snap election.