A Spanish political party has called on FIFA to strip Morocco of hosting rights for the 2030 World Cup. For the first time ever, there will be six official hosts, with Spain, Portugal and Morocco sharing the majority of the tournament, while Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay have been awarded one match each. The World Cup's centenary celebrations are the reason for three of the matches taking place in South America.
Diplomatic tensions
However, FIFA could be forced to make a decision regarding the main hosting duties, given relations between Spain and Morocco have soured in recent weeks. Despite being on different continents, the mainlands of both countries are only separated by mere miles. Spain does have two enclaves on the African continent, with Ceuta, an autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast, having been at the centre of a diplomatic incident.
It comes after thousands of migrants crossed the border into the Spanish territory at the end of last month, with close to 100 deaths having been reported. Spain's Interior Minister revealed an estimated 70,000 have since been returned to Morocco, but the saga hasn't disappeared just yet.
Political pressure
Sumar - a left-wing Spanish political party - presented a bill to parliament urging a review of the 2030 World Cup hosting duties. The party have urged the government, the Spanish FA and Portuguese authorities to: “carry out a specific review and evaluation of the current joint organisation model.”
They also ask the government to request the Spanish FA activate the mechanisms provided by FIFA to review compliance with the statutes and its human rights policy and to carry out an independent, public and updated study of the "risks to human rights in host countries".
Cross-national support
They ask for all of this to be completed within six months and are also pushing for reform of FIFA's regulatory framework, which would allow reviewing or withdrawing host nation status when “serious” breaches occur. There is cross-national support from Portugal as well, with the Portuguese Green Party having said in a statement: "Morocco's participation in co-organising the 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Spain has become unsustainable."
It would be a remarkable move from FIFA if they were to strip Morocco of hosting rights ahead of the next men's World Cup. The only time a World Cup host has changed after being announced was for the 1986 edition, when the Colombian government claimed they could no longer afford to hold the tournament.
