Spanish conservative leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said Spain should not co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup if Morocco stages the final. Feijóo, leader of the People's Party and the favorite to become the next Spanish prime minister after this month's snap election, made the remarks on the sports TV show El Chiringuito. He called it "fair, fitting and unquestionable" that Spain, "a global football power," host the final. He added that if Spain does not host it, "Spain should not take part in organizing the World Cup." In a follow-up answer, he said he would advocate for Spain to withdraw from co-hosting if Morocco is awarded the match.
Feijóo noted that the 2030 bid was originally Spanish-Portuguese, and that Morocco was invited later. The source reports that Moroccan officials have pushed hard to stage the final. Rafael Louzán, Spain's football chief, told POLITICO in June that he was confident either Madrid or Barcelona would host it, despite Morocco's large investment in football infrastructure.
Relations between the two countries have been tense. The source says Spanish political parties this summer accused Morocco of stoking a migrant crisis in Ceuta, Spain's North African territory, after 80,000 people surged into the city in late July. A Sigma Dos poll for El Mundo after the Ceuta crisis found that 84.4% of Spaniards opposed Spain continuing to co-host the World Cup with Morocco. The left-wing party Sumar, the Socialists' junior coalition partner, said the World Cup "cannot be shared with a country that uses desperate people for its own geostrategic interests." Sumar tabled a parliamentary resolution that the far-right Vox backed. It never reached a vote because parliament was dissolved ahead of the snap election.