FIFA schedules inspections for 2030 World Cup venues
FIFA will inspect candidate stadiums and supporting infrastructure across Morocco, Portugal and Spain in November and December as it works towards selecting the venues for the 2030 World Cup.
FIFA will visit 15 candidate host cities across Morocco, Portugal and Spain in November and December, assessing stadiums, transport links and accommodation before deciding which venues will stage the 2030 World Cup.The inspections will bring FIFA officials together with national, regional and local authorities, stadium operators and other delivery partners to examine readiness and operational planning.FIFA said: “The visits form an important stage in the venue selection process and will allow FIFA to assess the readiness, operational plans and proposed tournament infrastructure of each candidate venue.”The programme covers six cities in Morocco, seven in Spain and two in Portugal, although FIFA has left open the possibility of inspecting additional venues during the selection process.Agadir, Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech, Rabat and Tangier are included in the Moroccan itinerary, while Lisbon and Porto will receive the delegation in Portugal.The Spanish visits will cover Barcelona, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Madrid, San Sebastián, Seville and Zaragoza, with the final host-city list still to be confirmed.The assessment extends beyond the stadiums themselves, with transport and mobility organisations, accommodation providers and other infrastructure partners taking part in discussions.Those meetings will allow FIFA to examine how each location proposes to move, accommodate and support teams, officials and supporters during the tournament, alongside the facilities available inside the grounds.FIFA said the inspections would support an evaluation of each candidate city and stadium against its hosting requirements, informing the final selection.The organisation has not announced where the final will be played, with Spain and Morocco seeking to secure the tournament’s most prominent fixture.Match allocations will follow the host-city decisions, meaning inclusion in the inspection programme does not establish how many games a venue might receive or whether it will stage knockout fixtures.FIFA said: “The number of matches and the corresponding match types played in each venue will be decided only once the host cities have been confirmed and as part of the process for determining the match schedule, as FIFA continues to work closely with all stakeholders across Morocco, Portugal and Spain to advance preparations for the tournament.”The visits come as the three countries advance preparations involving stadium development and upgrades to the wider infrastructure needed to support the competition.The tournament will also include three centenary celebration matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, recognising 100 years since Uruguay hosted the first World Cup in 1930.The forthcoming inspections concern the principal hosts in Europe and North Africa, with FIFA yet to announce a date for confirming their final venue selection.