Associated Press
MADRID (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo led the celebrations after Portugal and five other countries were officially announced as hosts of the 2030 men’s World Cup on Wednesday, with the player saying the unique tournament will be the “most special” yet.
The 2030 tournament will be the first World Cup played in six different counties, with Spain, Portugal and Morocco as the main hosts while South American nations Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will each get one game. The format will help FIFA mark the centenary of Uruguay hosting the first World Cup in 1930.
“A dream come true,” the 39-year-old Ronaldo wrote in an Instagram post that had a photo of him celebrating while wearing Portugal’s jersey and featured the words: “The Most Special World Cup ever.”
Ronaldo is the only man to have scored at five World Cup tournaments, but he is unlikely to still be playing in 2030.
“Portugal will host the 2030 World Cup and make us proud,” he wrote.
The approval of the six-nation bid was mostly a formality at FIFA’s online meeting on Wednesday, with Saudi Arabia also officially confirmed as the 2034 World Cup host.
So reactions in Spain and Portugal were muted, but South American governing body CONMEBOL celebrated a day that its president Alejandro Domínguez said “will go down in the history of South American football.”
“FIFA decided to honor history. The World Cup returns home,” Dominguez said at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Paraguay. “We are at home, on the continent that organized the first World Cup ever. The first World Cup was played in Uruguay, the first world champion nation and now we also have the last World Cup champion, Argentina.”
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