Leipzig boss slams FIFA for 'stupid' multicontinental World Cup

For the first time ever, the 2030 World Cup will be contested on three continents and in six different nations.

The tournament’s first three games will be hosted by Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, with the remaining fixtures spread throughout Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.

The suggested ideas for the event in 2030 are hard to see coming to fruition. Only once before, in 2002, did two nations, South Korea and Japan, act as hosts for the same tournament.

The World Cup in 2026, which the United States, Mexico, and Canada will host, will be a game-changer, but it still won’t be of the same size as the World Cup in 2030.

Since this will be the 100th anniversary of the event, it makes sense to have the first games played in three CONMEBOL nations.

How will World Cup tournaments work with new format?

In 2030, the tournament will start off in Montevideo, Uruguay, and continue with games in Argentina and Paraguay before moving to North Africa and Europe for the rest of the tournament.

This implies that, like the 2026 World Cup, the early games will be played in one country, while the rest of the tournament will be played in three other countries.

The next tournament, which will be held in 16 different locations throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada, will include a record 48 teams for the first time.

Coupled with FIFA’s decision to keep the four-team group structure, this results in an increase from 80 to 104 total matches. A brand-new round of the last 32 will also be introduced.

Marco Rose voices displeasure with FIFA’s plan

Marco Rose, coach of Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, is among many who feel FIFA is putting too much distance between the sport’s biggest competition and its most passionate supporters.

“I have many questions and am very surprised. We are constantly tightening the screws, looking for innovations, something special here, something special there. At some point, we will play on Mount Everest if FIFA discovers a soccer pitch there and finds a new market,” Rose stated sarcastically via Sports Digitale.

According to him, the days of the World Cup being held in only one nation are finished: “The period when one country hosted the World Cup was very nice. Austria and Germany hosted the Euro. We could all look forward to it, and the tournament was not difficult to organize.

“The distances between locations were short, and apparently, that will never happen again. It seems that we are not at the end of this spiral yet. I think it’s a shame, maybe even stupid.”

Photo credit: IMAGO / Picture Point LE