Who Will Host the 2030 Football World Cup?
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Betting sites have backed away from the idea of England hosting the 2030 World Cup as competition from a number of confirmed rival bidders increases.
The English had been tipped to bid for the 2030 World Cup after missing out on both the 2018 and 2022 iterations of the tournament.
Europe is expected to stage the expanded 48-team competition four years after a combined competition in USA, Canada and Mexico.
But it appears as though UK bookmakers have given up hope of England staging the tournament at the start of the next decade.
Indeed, the England odds ballooned earlier this year after the joint FAs of the UK and Ireland launched a combined bid to host Euro 2028.
In doing so, they effectively ruled themselves out of the running for the World Cup. And bookies have been quick to shake up their odds.
2030 World Cup Host Odds
2030 World Cup Odds
According to football betting sites, there is now a 5.3% chance the World Cup will be held in the UK.
By contrast Spain are now the frontrunners, having confirmed their interest alongside Portugal in a joint bid last year.
England were never realistically going to host the World Cup. The FA’s relationship with FIFA is testy at best, and the official bid in 2010 to stage the most recent two tournaments was a disaster.
And despite the disastrous organisation of the Euro 2020 final, evidently the joint FAs of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland feel they have a good chance of staging Euro 2028.
There are now four confirmed bids for the 2030 World Cup. Here, we assess the likelihood of success for each one.
Spain
A year ago Spain were a big outsider at 12/1 to stage the 2030 World Cup final. But over the past 12 months the Spanish FA - in a joint bid with Portugal - has begun wooing FIFA members for their support.
And it seems to have worked. The Spain/Portugal bid has attracted plenty of interest and there is certainly a desire to stage a less costly World Cup off the back of the Russia and Qatar extravaganzas.
Weirdly, Spain and Portugal have also decided to expand their bid to include Ukraine.
The cynic would argue this is a ploy to garner further support - it’s not exactly like Ukraine is geographically linked to the Iberian peninsula, and staging games out there may disrupt the tournament.
Still, Madrid’s Bernabeu or the Nou Camp in Barcelona is likely to host the final if this bid is successful, and World Cup betting sites reckon it has a 2/1 chance.
Morocco
Morocco have tried and failed to stage the World Cup on multiple occasions. FIFA keeps knocking their FA back, and it keeps bidding for the next one.
There is hope that the World Cup will eventually return to Africa and Morocco is confident it could get it alone with a 48-team tournament.
New betting sites previously had Morocco as the 2/1 favourites but have since edged out that price.
This is likely because Morocco would need to offer a joint bid in order to get FIFA interested.
And a joint bid could lose Morocco the chance of staging the World Cup final, which is where this betting market focuses on.
Can Morocco finally take centre stage in the footballing world? The odds of 11/4 suggest it’s possible.
Uruguay
Joint bids are now the vogue for international football tournaments and Uruguay would be unable to stage the 2030 World Cup on its own.
A mega bid from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay has been mooted, and government officials from each country have signed documents to back a joint bid.
Uruguay would be the ideal place to stage the World Cup final a century after the first World Cup showpiece took place in Montevideo. However, money is the issue here.
Even a four-pronged World Cup bid would prove costly to the South America contingent, and Brazil is still counting the cost of its staging of the tournament in 2014.
Bookmakers have steadily pushed Uruguay’s odds (11/2) out, while Argentina’s price on hosting the final have come in.
But without an official bid, there’s nothing more than speculation for bettors to cling on to.
China
China’s love affair with football has dwindled somewhat following the financial collapse of the Chinese Super League, but that doesn’t mean interest in the sport has gone away.
Indeed, FIFA expect a bid from China to host the 2030 World Cup even though, theoretically, an Asian tournament isn’t scheduled until 2034.
It’s believed South Korea is also keen to stage the World Cup but may bring in Japan and China - and possibly even North Korea - to make it a northeast Asian mega tournament.
But Seoul would then come under pressure from Beijing to hand over the final, with China sitting on odds of 15/2 to have the showpiece.
China could definitely afford to stage the World Cup on its own, and held a successful Olympic Games in 2008.
But whether the government wants to prioritise football over other sporting events - especially after the scrutiny Qatar has come under this winter - remains to be seen.
Egypt
The odds of Egypt hosting the 2030 World Cup final have narrowed to 8/1 over the past year, and it’s not hard to see why.
Egypt is a football-mad nation with ties to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and would likely be a more palatable option for many football fans than Saudi Arabia.
But that doesn’t mean Saudi won’t be in the picture. Reports that Saudi wants to stage the World Cup - but is wary of going it alone - have surfaced. Could Egypt be the flag bearer of a joint bid?
There’s even a suggestion Greece could get involved in a triumvirate effort to woo FIFA. Cairo would certainly be a fitting capital for the final, as would Athens.
Argentina
Like Uruguay, much of Argentina’s hopes of landing the 2030 World Cup rests on money.
The four-nation joint bid expected to land at FIFA’s door would ease the financial impact of staging a World Cup - and Argentina could argue Buenos Aires was a better place to hold the final than Montevideo.
However, with Argentina’s economy currently being put through the wringer, their FA may only have a small window in which to mount the case for the country.
Indeed, this is where any South American bid may fail. FIFA will decide the World Cup hosts in 2024, and right now an Argentine-led bid doesn’t look likely to be successful at a price of 10/1.
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UAE
Another World Cup in the Persian Gulf would attract a lot of critics, but the United Arab Emirates certainly have the cash to flash at FIFA members.
The country has spent much of the last 15 years pumping money into football - just look at the City Football Group that has tentacles in Manchester, New York and Melbourne.
It’s unlikely UAE (12/1) would be able to host the 2030 World Cup on its own. But there is a novel idea of parachuting Israel into the bidding in order to keep the west onside.
A joint bid, perhaps also with Bahrain, is being floated. However, they may have to wait until 2034 to get this one off the ground.
Israel
Indeed, Israel needs the UAE as much as the UAE needs Israel, to launch a successful bid.
In 2021, then-Israeli PM Naftali Bennett confirmed the country’s interest in hosting the 2030 World Cup.
But Israel certainly cannot go alone, and FIFA would dearly love to bring a joint bid in the Middle East to the table.
Right now, though, it seems unlikely and that’s why they are rated as a 15/1 chance.
Portugal
Were an Iberian World Cup to be the preferred choice for 2030, plenty of Portuguese will argue the final should be held in Lisbon and Cristiano Ronaldo could be a key figure in campaigning for it.
After all, the Estadio da Luz has staged Europe’s biggest football finals, and is well placed to cater for fans.
However, a joint bid with Spain would almost certainly result in Madrid or Barcelona hosting the final.
The only reason FIFA would deny Spain this is if Lisbon pledged to expand the Estadio da Luz, if the Bernabeu renovation still wasn’t finished, or if the Nou Camp’s revamp hadn’t been completed.
Portugal could well host the World Cup but they are the little brother to Spain, as odds of 17/1 show.
England
There’s always a chance England could host the World Cup if, for whatever reason, the confirmed host nation had to withdraw once construction gets underway.
This has been the perceived wisdom of the English media for decades – apparently England has been ready to host the World Cup should South Africa, Brazil and Qatar all fail to be ready in time.
Of course, England has never been called upon to save the world from a disastrous tournament - and they probably never will.
But, that won’t stop betting apps floating England at 18/1 to stage the 2030 final, even if the tournament is on a different continent.
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Updated by
Fact Checked by
Joe Short
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