Prior to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, only one of the tournaments had been hosted by multiple countries, but the 2030 event is shaping up to be the biggest ever.
In 2002, South Korea and Japan became the first countries to split hosting duties for a World Cup, with Brazil ultimately capturing the crown in the historic event.
This year’s World Cup is the largest by several measures, as it not only features three World Cup host nations, with Canada, the United States and Mexico all hosting games, but it is also the biggest in terms of the number of teams participating, as 48 nations are fielding teams, up from 32 in previous editions of the tournament.
Even though there’s still plenty of ground to cover in this year’s tournament, with every team having at least one group play game left and then the 32-team knockout stage to follow, there are some fans who may be curious about where the next World Cup will take place.
Notably, the 2030 World Cup will mark the centennial anniversary of the first-ever World Cup, which was hosted in Uruguay, and as a result, the tournament will not only feature multiple host nations, but multiple host continents for the first time ever.
Originally the bid to host the 2030 World Cup was spearheaded by Spain and Portugal, as they sought to bring the tournament to western Europe for the first time since 1998 when France did the honors. Eventually, a third nation joined that bid, with Morocco set to become the first African nation to host World Cup games since South Africa did so in 2010.
The three-nation World Cup would mark the second consecutive tournament to be hosted by a trio of countries and the first to ever be hosted on multiple continents, but in honor of the centennial version of the event, FIFA is going to go even bigger in 2030.
That’s because the tournament will also feature multiple games played in South America, with Uruguay’s Estadio Centenario hosting a game, along with stadiums in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Asunción, Paraguay.
The one unanswered question is how many nations will participate in the upcoming tournament. This year’s field features 48 teams, but there has been talk of FIFA potentially expanding the field for the 100th anniversary to 64 teams, though that measure has not been approved.
The 2034 World Cup has also been awarded, and this one will see a return to the single-host nation format, as Saudi Arabia was selected to host the tournament.
from NBC Chicago https://ift.tt/umkf9QF
No comments:
Post a Comment