In the future, the World Cup could be held across the Pacific.

As we know, the 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The 2030 World Cup will be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with some matches taking place in Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the tournament. At the same time, Saudi Arabia has also been chosen as the host of the 2034 World Cup.

So where will the 2038 World Cup take place? According to the rotation principle, a continental confederation must wait two more times after hosting a tournament before re-organizing, with CONCACAF and Oceania currently the only potential destinations.

New Zealand, part of Oceania, has expressed its desire to host the 2038 World Cup, but it cannot do it alone. "With the ever-expanding scale of the World Cup, the logistics and stadium demands are so great that New Zealand cannot host it alone," New Zealand Football Federation CEO Andrew Pragnell told The Athletic, "So we need to find a partner to co-host."

The 2034 World Cup will be held in Asia, with Saudi Arabia as the host country.

Neighbors Australia had previously co-hosted with New Zealand to successfully organize the 2023 Women's World Cup. However, because this country belongs to the Asian Confederation (AFC) and has already hosted the 2034 World Cup (in Saudi Arabia), they cannot coordinate with New Zealand again.

According to Pragnell, he has presented the proposal in FIFA meetings and discussions, that it is possible to create an alliance between New Zealand and the Asia Pacific countries or expand to the West Coast of the Americas.

The United States has been allowed to host again in 2034. However, other places are also participating, such as Hawaii, which has a 50,000-seat stadium, or Fiji, which is rushing to build a modern, international stadium.

Hawaii's Aloha Stadium has a capacity of 50,000.

Pragnell said that the 2024 Paris Olympics hosted surfing in Tahiti, so spreading the World Cup to countries on both sides of the Pacific Ocean is not out of the question. "The idea is quite interesting and would provide a different experience for football fans," he said.

At the FIFA Council meeting held in Paraguay last week, Alejandro Dominguez, President of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and Vice President of FIFA, continued to mention the idea of ​​increasing the number of teams participating in the World Cup to 64. According to him, the expansion plan could be implemented as early as 2030, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the World Cup.

"For a person, a 50th birthday is obviously different from a 49th or 51st birthday. So there should be an exception for the special event in 2030, when the World Cup celebrates its 100th birthday," Dominguez said.

Thanh Hai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/trong-tuong-lai-world-cup-co-the-duoc-to-chuc-xuyen-thai-binh-duong-post1743084.tpo