Football Focus Shifts From US To The Iberian Peninsula For Next World Cup

Laurie Stone   WHEN the full-time whistle sounded on the World Cup final this summer in New York City, the baton was passed to the hosts of the 2030 tournament: Portugal, Spain and Morocco. The 2026 edition, spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, had been a showcase of scale - vast stadiums across sprawling distances. The 2030 FIFA World Cup returns football to the more modest peninsula that gave the modern game some of its greatest stages. In doing so, it hands Europe a rare opportunity: a chance to host an event that has spent much of the last two decades touring the world in search of new audiences (think Qatar, South Africa and, yes, the USA), rather than simply consolidating its old ones. It will be 48 years since Spain last hosted, in 1982, and they will return as the all-conquering heroes; champions for just the second time in their history. For Portugal, it will be a first. And, as its iconic player Cristiano Ronaldo said, “a dream come true” for the nation. W...