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Spain should withdraw as a co-host of the 2030 FIFA World Cup if Morocco is selected to stage the final, opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo said.
Feijoo, leader of the conservative People’s Party, made the remarks during an interview with Spanish football programme El Chiringuito broadcast Thursday.
“Spain must organize the World Cup final,” he said. “And if it does not organize it, in my opinion, Spain should not participate in organizing the World Cup.”
Asked directly whether he would advocate Spain’s withdrawal if Morocco received the final, Feijoo replied: “Yes. The answer is yes.”
The People’s Party leader said he would pursue that position if he became prime minister following Spain’s Nov. 29 general election.
Feijoo argued that hosting the final in Spain would be “fair,” “appropriate” and “indisputable,” pointing to the country’s experience organizing major sporting events.
He also noted that Spain and Portugal had initially developed the joint World Cup bid before Morocco joined it.
Feijoo repeated his position on US social media platform X on Friday, saying restoring Spain’s national pride required preventing others from “walking all over” the country.
“The World Cup final belongs to Spain,” he said, adding that the world’s leading football nation should not be “humiliated.”
Spain, Portugal and Morocco were formally selected as the principal co-hosts of the 2030 tournament. Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will each stage one centenary match to commemorate the first World Cup, held in Uruguay in 1930.
Real Madrid’s renovated Santiago Bernabeu Stadium has been presented as Spain’s leading candidate, while Morocco is promoting the planned Grand Stade Hassan II in Benslimane, near Casablanca.
The Moroccan venue is expected to accommodate about 115,000 spectators, potentially making it one of the world’s largest football stadiums.
Moroccan Football Federation President Fouzi Lekjaa said in September that the final would be held in Morocco “whether some people like it or not,” intensifying debate in Spain.
FIFA subsequently said no decision had been made and that it would select the venue in due course.
Both the Spanish government and the Spanish Football Federation have previously expressed their desire for the final to be staged in Spain. (AA)
