The opening games of the 2030 FIFA World Cup will be played in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, while the rest of the competition will be played in Spain, Portugal and Morrocco. Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez was the first to announce the news this Wednesday, which was later confirmed by FIFA via a press release. 

The opening game of the tournament will be played at the Centenario stadium in Uruguay, to commemorate the centenary of the first ever FIFA World Cup, which took place there in 1930. There will also be a unique centenary celebration ceremony in Uruguay’s capital of Montevideo, as well as two World Cup matches played in Argentina and Paraguay.

“We aimed high and dreamed big,” Domínguez said in a post on X. 

“The 2030 Centenario World Cup will start where it all began. The hosts of the opening matches of the Centenario World Cup will be Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina.”

We aimed high and dreamed big. The 2030 Centenario World Cup starts where it all began.

The host of the opening matches of the Centenario World Cup will be Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.#MundialCentenario 🏆

— Alejandro Domínguez (@agdws) October 4, 2023

A press conference was called in Asunción, Paraguay, following Domínguez’s initial announcement on social media. The Conmebol president was joined by AFA president Claudio Chiqui Tapia, as well as Robert Harrison and Ignacio Alonso, who head the  Paraguayan and Uruguayan football federations, respectively.

“The World Cup will start in South America,” said Harrison, who added that all three countries are already qualified for the 2030 World Cup, although this has not yet been officially confirmed by FIFA. 

“I think this is big news for South American football,” said Dominguez. “The World Cup is returning to Uruguay and Argentina, who were the first finalists, and Paraguay, the home of Conmebol.”

This announcement comes on the back of the joint “Juntos 2030” bid made by Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile to host that year’s World Cup. “A World Cup requires massive investments, something that perhaps we wouldn’t have been able to do,” Domínguez said. 

The Conmebol president added that the initial proposal of that joint bid was that Uruguay and Argentina organize the 2030 World Cup, and that Paraguay and Chile were eventually added to the petition. In FIFA’s statement, however, there is no mention of Chile. 

 “FIFA approved [Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay]. We’ll work to see that Chile also gets recognition.”

Dominguez remained on the fence as to whether any more matches could be played in South America: “These three opening matches are the ones we agreed upon for now, but I can’t confirm if there will be more. We achieved this because FIFA leaders understood the importance of celebrating the World Cup Centennial here.”