Has anybody read which stadia would be used in the Greece-Egypt-Saudia bid? I have not found any so far. My understanding is that: Greece only has one stadium above 40,000, the Olympic Stadium in Athens. I understand Panathinaikos is finishing its new stadium in Athens which will have capacity for 40,000, and PAOK has plans to start construction of a new stadium in Thessaloniki next year, with capacity above 40,000. All other current stadia have capacity below 33,000, and would require expansion. Egypt has currently three stadia with capacity above 40,000: Borg el Arab, Suez, and Cairo Intl. in Cairo. All other current stadia have capacity below 33,000, and would require expansion. Also, most are in Cairo. Saudia has currently two stadia with capacity above 40,000: one in Jeddah and one in Riyadh. But I read that they are building 4 new stadia for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, with capacity above 40,000 (two in Riyadh, one in Jeddah and one in Dammam). My guess is that they would use 3 stadia in Greece, 3 in Egypt, and 6 in Saudia. Also, given the weather, it would mean that the WC would most likely be played in November-December. If any of you have more updated information, please share.
To me that Saudi-Egypt-Greece bid is a non-starter. Greece will probably also drop out due to pressure by UEFA in order not to distract from the main European bid. This one is between the European and South American bid. I understand why Ukraine was added but would have preferred a pure Iberian bid. Why add cross-continental travel? The Qatar World Cup is way too compact while the Concacaf one is incredibly spread out. An Iberian World Cup would have been just right.
while things are obviously very grim now, you're asking about a tournament to take place 8 years from now. I think I read Ukraine would only host the matches for 1 Group during Group Stage? So they would only need 2 stadiums.
The relations have started to be tense again since one two years after for some time it looked to be less tense. I personally love both countries and I firmly believe that most Turks and Greeks don't have a problem with each other. It's just the politicians have.
My mistake, I should've been more clear in my musings (although you bring up an interesting tangent): Why Saudi-Egypt-Greece and not Saudi-Egypt-Türkiye?
1 group of 3 only needs one stadium stupid political decision and i think the iberians had chosen this in order to get the "popular vote"
Yep. Waaaay too many issues with teh Saudi-GRE-EGY bid. Cross confederation hosts, playing in Saudi right after a WC in neighbouring Qatar, lack of world class stadiums, political issues with choosing Saudi, weather, etc. The bid is a joke.
Not that I was an advocate of it but I thought Greece was part of the Balkan bid along with Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia? Has that bid been discontinued? I know they mean well but really struggling to see how adding Ukraine to the Iberian bid is good for the tournament or fans even if Ukraine and Russia are at peace by then. Feels like a bit of an own goal?
That was for Euro 2028 but that bid has been dropped. I don't see how it hurts. Its not like fans are forced to travel back-and-forth between Spain and Ukraine. I'm sure at least 85% of the matches will still be played on the Iberian Peninsula, so you won't miss much if you really don't want to travel to Ukraine. But at the same time, its easy enough to travel there if you want (NY to LA is almost twice as far, if we are comparing to the 2026 WC). Also, keep in mind that Spain and Portugal do not have a lot of cities with stadiums that suit FIFA standards. I think there is just Porto, Lisboa, BCN, Madrid, Seville, Bilbao and Valencia. That's 7. Having 8 or 9 would strengthen the bid.
I tried to go through this thread and I am of the mindset taht the tournament should be held in South America, although the change to the 48 team format kills the CONMEBOL qualifying as two thirds of the teams make it. FIFA screws everything up with their greed.
No, things may have moved on but the Balkan bid was originally for the 2030 World Cup. I can’t post the link right now but if you google “Balkan Bid 2030 World Cup” you’ll see the evidence. In terms of the NY to LA point, World Cup 2026 will no doubt offer a great many positive things but the travel distances aren’t one of them and I really don’t think we should be holding up the travel aspect as a template for future World Cups! A lot of the stadia in Portugal and Spain are close enough to the minimum FIFA size not to require much expansion to meet the grade. The Estadio Algarve in particular looks like it might be suitable for a temporary expansion by adding to the stands behind the goals. That aside, if a third host really is needed to make up the numbers then why not France, which borders Spain and thus cuts down on travel time. Even the original idea of Spain and Portugal co-hosting with Morocco makes more sense than Ukraine, Rabat to Madrid being a third of the distance as Kyiv to Madrid. You say fans won’t be forced to travel between Spain and Ukraine, whilst no one is forced to do anything in life if you’re a fan with a “follow my team” ticket or tst you could well find yourself railroaded into doing exactly that. It would be great if Ukraine could one day host a major tournament again but crudely bolting them onto the Iberian bid in this way isn’t the answer.
I'm OK with adding Ukraine but not crazy about the idea. I'll be WAY less crazy about it if the US draws into the group playing in Ukraine. What I read was that Ukraine would host one of the groups. So if you "follow your team" you're don't need to travel back and forth to see your team, you could stay in Ukraine. The issue with that of course is staying in Ukraine. No chance to see matches in other groups or getting to enjoy the other terrific things about Spain and Portugal unless you travel back and forth. I would have loved an Iberia-Morocco bid, it would be awesome. What an amazing opportunity to experience 3 incredible countries.
In that scenario should your team make it out of the group you then have to travel from Ukraine to Portugal or Spain to watch the rest of the games. One of the attractive things about the Iberian bid is its relative compactness compared to United 2026 and now that’s been diminished. Logistically it’s an own goal, whether it wins political favour is another matter.
I suspect that France wouldn't be interested. The next time France bids for a WC they probably want to host the lion's share of matches, perhaps co-hosting with the likes of Belgium, Netherlands and/or Switzerland. Conversely, I don't think Spain would be thrilled with losing a whole bunch of games to France. Doesn't really make sense to add another big Euro country when you already have Spain and Portugal. Yep, like you say, it is unlikely that they will make the schedule such that teams and their fans will need to travel back-and-forth between Iberian Peninsula and Ukraine. And if they keep the 16 groups of 3 format, "follow your team" tickets could have as few as 2 matches. And you can easily travel to Spain/Portugal even if the US gets "stuck" in Ukraine for those two matches. It's only a 3-hour flight.
Originally there were a few expressions of interest by UEFA nations or groups of nations. UEFA stated that they only wanted one bid for the World Cup and it seems by consensus that turned out to be Spain/Portugal. The others switched to EURO bids.
What role does a confederation play in hosting? Why does if hosts are from different confederations? Thinking about the women’s Australia NEw Zealand World Cup and if Iberia had included Morocco for their men’s 2030 bid.
Presumably each host would have to use up a berth from its own confed... the trickier issue would be which confed gets the extra berth in the playoff tournament.
I know every berth is important, especially for teams on the bubble, but it seems it's less important with a 48 team field to me as a fan. I guess not for the team that may just miss out though! Maybe in this new era of expanded fields of 48 (or more), the concept of adding berths goes away?
Or... I mean, there's nothing set in stone saying FIFA can't just spam "host confed" berths (e.g. turning the 6-team playoff tournament into an 8-team one if they were to choose the Saudi bid)