Spain should withdraw from hosting the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Morocco if the country is not awarded the final, said the leader of the opposition Popular Party which is leading in opinion polls ahead of a snap election.
“The final of the World Cup must be held where it is fair, where it is appropriate, where it is beyond question: in Spain,” said Alberto Núñez Feijóo in an interview with Spanish television programme El Chiringuito late on Thursday.
Asked whether he would advocate Spain, whose national team won this year’s World Cup, withdrawing from the joint tournament if Morocco was awarded the final, he replied: “Yes. The answer is yes.”
In a post on X on Friday, Feijóo said: “You do not humiliate international football’s leading power.”
The three host nations of the 2030 tournament are competing to stage the final, with Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium and a planned 115,000-seat venue in Benslimane, near Casablanca, seen as the leading contenders.
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Moroccan Football Federation president Fouzi Lekjaa said in September that the showpiece match would be held in Morocco “whether some people like it or not”.
FIFA has said no decision has yet been made on the venue.
The dispute comes amid strained relations between Spain and Morocco following a mass migrant crossing into the Spanish North African territory of Ceuta in July, when tens of thousands of people entered from neighbouring Morocco.
Feijóo accused Morocco of being behind what he called an “invasion” and has pledged to take a tougher stance towards the country if he becomes prime minister.
The main conservative Popular Party is ahead of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists in opinion polls ahead of an early general election on November 29th, but could need the support of far-right party Vox to form a government.
Vox has called for a tougher stance towards Morocco, accusing it of threatening Spanish sovereignty and using migration as a tool of political pressure.
