Star Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo expressed his gratitude after Portugal was announced as the host of the FIFA World Cup 2030, alongside Spain and Morocco.
Taking to his social media platforms, the star footballer shared a picture of himself, featuring the words “2030 World Cup – Portugal” and “the most special World Cup ever”.
“A dream come true. Portugal will host the World Cup 2030 and make us proud. Together!” the former Real Madrid forward captioned the social media post in Portuguese.
The development was confirmed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the football governing body’s extraordinary Congress, held virtually.
"We are bringing football to more countries and the number of teams has not diluted the quality. It actually enhanced the opportunity," Infantino said about the 2030 World Cup.
The upcoming edition of the global event will be staged across three continents and six countries, with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay hosting centenary matches to open the tournament.
Uruguay has hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1930, while Spain and Argentina have also staged the tournament previously. However, Portugal, Paraguay and Morocco will be the first-time hosts.
Four years later, the FIFA World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia, where Cristiano Ronaldo plays club football for Al-Nassr.
Saudi Arabia will become only the second country from middle-east to host the extravaganza, 12 years after neighbouring country Qatar, who staged the 2022 edition.
Notably, FIFA had announced last year that the 2034 edition of the men’s World Cup will be held in Asia or Oceania region.
As a result, Australia and Indonesia also discussed proposing a joint bid but dropped out, leaving Saudi Arabia as the sole bidder, who also had the support of the Asian Football Federation.
Similarly for the 2030 World Cup, Morocco, Spain and Portugal were the sole bidders.
