THE FUSE

Spotify Camp Nou in Barcelona, Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, and Hassan II Stadium in Casablanca: three stadiums, three cities and two countries competing to host the most important and most spotlight-grabbing football matches in the world.

In a lengthy report, the newspaper Sport claimed the battle to host the 2030 World Cup final has become a political and diplomatic contest, one set to rumble on for at least another year.

No date has been fixed for the decision. Don't expect the winning city to be announced before 2028.

Officially, nothing has changed since July 2024, when the federations of Spain, Portugal and Morocco submitted their joint bid, naming three stadiums as candidates to host both the final and the opening match.

That bid also listed Malaga and La Coruna among the host cities, though both have since pulled out. San Sebastian and Bilbao have voiced doubts, while Valencia and Vigo are now pushing to join after initially missing out.

FIFA visits the Spanish stadiums

FIFA have taken an official role in the phase before the final list of host stadiums gets the green light, something expected in the first half of next year. To that end, world football's governing body is revisiting every stadium across the three countries.

Over the past fortnight, FIFA launched a fresh tour of the Spanish cities, taking in the Camp Nou and the Bernabeu. During his meeting with the Spanish Football Federation, its president Rafael Louzan told Gianni Infantino's envoys he could not imagine the final being held anywhere but Spain.

For the two years and more since the bid went in, Spain's federations and political institutions have shown their conviction that the final belongs in one of their cities.

The Moroccan government, meanwhile, announced a few months ago that the matter was already settled, only to backtrack after the uproar the claim caused.

Which FIFA body takes the final call remains unclear. The federation's statutes say the FIFA Council, the 37-member executive body chosen by the national federations, sets the schedule of the final tournaments in terms of dates and stadiums, but they do not spell out whether that power extends to picking the venue for the final itself.

The precedent of the 2026 World Cup

The most recent precedent does nothing to lift the fog. In February 2024, FIFA announced the 2026 World Cup final would be held in New York and New Jersey, not Dallas, the other city chasing the match.

Manuel Zubiria, FIFA's director of competitions, confirmed the decision was thrashed out right up until almost two days before, if not the previous night, a sign that the FIFA Council was not the body that made the call.

So who did? The prevailing belief is that Gianni Infantino himself made the decision alongside his inner circle.

The original draft of the Spain, Portugal and Morocco bid, led by the Spanish Football Federation under Luis Rubiales, put the Santiago Bernabeu top of the list to host the final.

Under Louzan, though, the Camp Nou was raised to the same level of preference, with the message that what matters most is staging the match in a Spanish city. Pedro Sanchez's government has not publicly backed either.

Over the coming months, Spain and the Spanish Football Federation are expected to settle on one of the two options, at least in the private talks they will hold with FIFA, as they try to stop Casablanca being handed the final.

So which of the two cities wins Spanish backing? That remains unclear, and the answer may well hinge on the result of the general elections.

National federations, not governments, officially submit bids to stage tournaments. Yet politics plays a decisive role here, not least because a tournament of this size cannot be organised without the genuine cooperation and direct involvement of public institutions.

No political party has backed one of the two major Spanish cities over the other, but the parties have staked out clear positions on the joint hosting with Morocco.

Spain's People's Party wrote into its election programme a pledge that Spain would not stage the 2030 World Cup if the final were held at the Hassan II stadium.

Louzan, the former president of the Pontevedra provincial council for the People's Party and the holder of other posts besides, rejected the idea when it was put to him: "Spain signed agreements with the rest of the countries and with FIFA to organise this World Cup."

Sumar, Podemos and Vox went further, demanding an outright withdrawal from the joint bid with Morocco. The proposal never reached debate or a vote before parliament was dissolved.

The possibility of Infantino's re-election

Other elections may matter even more here: the FIFA presidential vote scheduled for March.

Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish league association and vice-president of the Spanish federation, put it bluntly: "If Infantino continues in his position, the chances of Spain hosting the 2030 World Cup final will be slim."

Spain and Portugal stayed out of the wave of public opposition to Infantino from most European federations and UEFA. They may yet pay for it.

It comes down to one thing above all: Morocco ranks among the most loyal allies of the Swiss official, and makes no secret of the hospitality and honours it lays on for him.

Infantino has returned the favour in recent years, opening FIFA's Africa office in the Moroccan capital Rabat and handing it the event that could see him re-elected as president of the governing body.