You don’t need to be a hardcore football fan to know that the FIFA World Cup is the sport’s biggest and most important championship. Besides the fact that you can watch the best countries in action, it takes place once every 4 years, making it even more interesting to follow.
Speaking of the World Cup, Nostrabet.com announced that the 2030 FIFA Men’s World Cup will take place in 3 Countries – Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. “There were rumours that Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Egypt will be those that will host the 2023 World Cup. However, it seems like FIFA decided to give this opportunity to Portugal, Morocco, and Spain”, said Veselin from Nostrabet.
With that said, the 2030 FIFA Men’s World Cup is not the first event of this caliber that’s not held in a single country. The first such tournament occurred 21 years ago, during the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Although it has a lot of opponents, there is no arguing that this World Cup was a huge success.
Interestingly, the 2030 FIFA Men’s World Cup will not even be the 2nd event in multiple countries. This honour goes to the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup because Mexico, Canada, and the USA will host it. There are many reasons FIFA allows the joint hosting of such a significant event, and we’ll learn more about it. We’ll also analyze what has happened in some of the most recent World Cups.
The Financial Cost
There are a couple of big reasons why FIFA allows several countries to apply for joint hosting of the World Cup and why countries are interested in the idea. One of them is the financial costs because hosting a FIFA World Cup is expensive, to say the least.
If we analyze the data from previous events, we can see that countries spend billions on each tournament. Before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Brazil held the record for the most money spent, with $19.7B for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Russia came close to $16B in 2018, but these numbers are nothing compared to what Qatar spent.
The official data reveals that Qatar’s 2022 World Cup cost around $229B, which is more than every other World Cup combined, multiplied by a large number. Even though countries that apply for World Cup hosting should be prepared to invest large sums, it seems like not all of them are getting their money back. Therefore, FIFA has decided to reduce the financial burden on hosts by allowing the event to take place in multiple countries. Doing this significantly reduces costs, meaning more countries can host different games.
The event should bring more revenue and fans
Even though the FIFA World Cup is football’s most popular event, there is always room for improvement. The fact that the 2026 and 2030 competitions will take place in a total of 6 countries should mean that there will be even more fans interested in the sport. This is especially true for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, the USA, and Mexico.
Even though football is big in Mexico, soccer in Canada and the USA is not on the same level as basketball. However, we expect soccer to gain more fans thanks to Lionel Messi’s transfer and the fact that the WC will take place there.
Besides countries having to spend less money to host this competition, they can also maximize their revenue. Since football’s biggest tournament is held in a specific state, the latter will get many tourists and fans. Those people have to go somewhere to sleep, eat, etc., which will boost the local economy.
Previous World Cups
As mentioned, the 2022 World Cup occurred in Qatar, whereas the 2018 was in Russia and the 2014 was in Brazil. Each one will be remembered because it allowed us to watch many epic matches. For example, 2014 will go down in history because of Germany’s triumph and the team scoring 7 goals against Brazil.
The 2018 World Cup was also special because France dominated against its opponents. Moreover, Croatia reached the Grand Final for the first time in history and even scored two goals against the Champions.
In terms of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, besides the billions of dollars spent on it, this will go down in history as Messi’s World Cup. The GOAT from Argentina led his team to success and lifted the trophy for the first time in his career. This was the only trophy he was missing, which is why many people agree that he will go down in history as the greatest footballer of all time.
2010 World Cup in South Africa
2010 was a special year for African football because South Africa became the first nation in Africa where FIFA’s World Cup took place. The tournament was full of surprises, an amazing atmosphere, and matches that will go down in history. There were several teams that had the chance to win, but Spain was on another level and had almost no problems winning.
2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany
Old-school football fans know the 2006 FIFA World Cup was special for many reasons. One of them was the fact that this was the last World Cup where we saw Brazil’s legendary squad that had the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Kaka, and many other players.
Besides that, this event will go down in history because of Zidane’s red card in the final against Italy. Even though France was the big favourite to win the competition, Zidane’s headbutt against Marco Materazzi had a bad effect on the team, and the match went to penalties. Italy was better there, and Squdra Azzurra won its 4th trophy.
2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan
As pointed out earlier, this competition was special because it was the first event that took place in two countries instead of one. Moreover, it was the first FIFA World Cup in Asia.
Aside from all that, fans will never forget the competition because of Brazil’s dominance. Seleção’s dream team was in a league of its own, and Brazil won its 5th trophy after defeating Germany in the final.
World Cup and Betting
Besides being one of football’s most exciting tournaments to watch, the FIFA World Cup is also the thing that brings together a lot of sports betting fans. Since iGaming became popular in the last 10 years, the 2014 WC in Brazil was the first one that received a lot more bets than the other ones. Unsurprisingly, the 2018 was even more popular, and the 2022 WC in Qatar became the most popular football event in online betting.
Considering the ongoing trend and the many new bookmakers that open their doors, we expect the World Cups in 2026 and 2030 to be the ones that receive the most bets. Keep in mind that there have been recent changes in the gambling laws in Canada and the USA, allowing different forms of iGaming, including sports betting. There’s still time until 2026, but by the looks of it, many sports fans in these countries will want to bet on the games.
In terms of the betting options, every World Cup has more things than other competitions, such as extra bonuses. Every top-tier sports betting operator comes up with unique offers, so we expect to see a lot of surprises for the upcoming World Cups.
No comments added yet. Be the first!