Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain’s conservative People’s Party and a candidate for prime minister, has said Spain should withdraw from hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup if it is not selected to stage the tournament’s final.
Spain is co-hosting the tournament with Morocco and Portugal.
Appearing Thursday evening on Spanish television program El Chiringuito, Feijóo argued that the final should be held “where it is fair, where it is appropriate and where there can be no debate: in Spain.”
Asked whether he would call for Spain to withdraw from the joint hosting bid if Morocco were awarded the final, should he become prime minister, Feijóo gave a categorical response: “Yes. The answer is yes.”
On Friday, he reiterated his position in a post on X accompanying a link to the interview, saying that restoring national pride also meant not allowing anyone to “walk all over” Spain. “The leading global power in football cannot be humiliated,” he wrote.
Spain and Morocco are competing to host the final. Madrid is backing Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, while Morocco is proposing a new stadium with a capacity of around 115,000 spectators in Benslimane, near Casablanca.
In September, Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, said the final would be held in Morocco, “whether some people like it or not.”
FIFA said at the time that no decision had been made on the venue.
Feijóo’s remarks come ahead of Spain’s Nov. 29 early general election. Opinion polls have placed the People’s Party ahead of the governing Socialists, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, although the conservatives may need support from the far right to secure a parliamentary majority.
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