2030 World Cup Final Must Be Held in Spain, Rafael Louzan Declares

Spanish Football Federation president Rafael Louzan has insisted that Spain remains the designated destination for the 2030 FIFA World Cup final, ruling out any consideration of withdrawing the country’s bid.

Spain will co-host the competition alongside Portugal and Morocco, although the final venue will not be officially decided until 2028.

The Spanish federation is backing Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium to stage the final, while Morocco has put forward the proposed 115,000-seat Hassan II Stadium, which is being constructed in Benslimane, close to Casablanca. Portugal currently lacks a stadium considered suitable for the occasion.

Speaking on Saturday at the Spanish federation’s Ciudad del Futbol headquarters outside Madrid, Louzan maintained that Spain had no alternative plan for the final.

“There is no other plan than for the final to be held in Spain,” he declared.

The federation chief also rejected the idea of withdrawing Spain’s bid, saying there was no reason to contemplate the possibility of the country losing the right to host the tournament’s biggest match.

“I am not currently considering the possibility of withdrawing from Spain, as the prospect of Spain not hosting the final is not on the table,” he stated.

His comments came in response to Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the right-wing People’s Party, who threatened to push for Spain to withdraw its bid if Morocco secured the final.

Feijoo made the position known during a television interview on November 5, saying that if he became prime minister after the November 29 general election, he would advocate withdrawing Spain’s bid if Morocco was chosen to host the final.

Louzan dismissed the suggestion as a hypothetical political scenario, insisting that there was no possibility of such an outcome.

“That notion simply doesn’t exist,” he said.

He also invoked FIFA’s tradition of rotating World Cup hosting arrangements, arguing that the final should remain in Europe.

According to the RFEF president, the right to stage the decisive match “belongs to the European continent”.

Meanwhile, Louzan revealed that FIFA technical experts had visited several Spanish stadiums during the previous week as part of the assessment process for venues seeking to host matches at the 2030 World Cup.

The inspection forms part of preparations for the tournament, which will be jointly staged by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.