2030 final: Bernabéu, Camp Nou or Hassan II? What FIFA actually says

Where will the final of 21 July 2030 be played? Short answer: nobody knows yet, and everything published since January 2026 amounts to a statement of intent or an unconfirmed leak. Since 2 October 2026 one press report has added a useful detail: the wait could last until 2028.

The three contenders

Stadium	City	Capacity (as announced)
Santiago Bernabéu	Madrid	83,186 (80,000 to 85,000 depending on the source)
Spotify Camp Nou	Barcelona	104,600 on completion (late 2027 – early 2028)
Grand Stade Hassan II	Benslimane (Casablanca)	115,000 (delivery late 2027 or 2028 depending on the source)

Lisbon’s Estádio da Luz is sometimes mentioned, with chances rated as marginal.

FIFA’s criteria

According to Infobae (7 August 2026), FIFA is applying three criteria: a minimum capacity of 80,000 seats for the opening match and the final; location, with a historical preference for capitals; and infrastructure (VIP and VVIP areas, media, accommodation, security, air links). All three contenders are said to score the same mark of 4.3/5. But other Spanish outlets (Vozpópuli, Defensa Central) refer to a threshold of 85,000 seats, which would complicate the Bernabéu’s case. We have not been able to settle between 80,000 and 85,000: take neither figure for granted.

Timeline of statements

• 27 January 2026 — Rafael Louzán, president of the RFEF: “the final of this World Cup will be played here”. FIFA’s response: premature; for 2026, the final’s host city was announced two years before the tournament.
• 5 August 2026 — The Times reports that Gianni Infantino is said to have offered Morocco the final in exchange for official support for his re-election.
• 6 August 2026 — FIFA issues a denial through the EFE news agency. It calls the accusations “false and misleading”, says its president made no commitment, and states that the country and stadium for the final have not been settled.
• 6 August 2026 — Spanish public radio RNE floats the opposite scenario: the 2029 Club World Cup for Morocco, the 2030 final for Madrid. The article specifies that FIFA “has announced no such exchange”.
• 2 October 2026 — Mundo Deportivo, citing sources familiar with the process, writes that FIFA would not announce the final venue before 2028. The paper points to the 2026 tournament as a precedent: MetLife Stadium was only confirmed in February 2024, two years before kick-off. Mind what this is: a press report based on unnamed sources, not a FIFA communication. FIFA itself has given no date.
• 5 November 2026: Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the People’s Party and of the opposition, says on the football programme El Chiringuito that Spain should give up hosting the World Cup if the final goes elsewhere. Reported by the EFE news agency.
• 6 November 2026: El Español writes that no signature guarantees the final to Spain, and that the technical document handed to FIFA listed the two large Spanish stadiums but also the Moroccan venue among the proposals for the deciding match.

The final enters the Spanish election campaign

Spain votes on 29 November 2026. On 5 November, on the football programme El Chiringuito, Alberto Núñez Feijóo was asked bluntly: if he becomes head of government after that vote, would he push for Spain to withdraw from hosting should the final stay in Morocco? His answer, reported by the EFE news agency: “yes, the answer is yes”. Just before, he had said: “Spain must host the World Cup final and, if it does not host it, in my view Spain should not take part in organising the World Cup.”

He calls it “fair”, “timely” and “indisputable” that the final be played in Spain, and puts forward three arguments that are his, not ours: the country has shown it can organise any sporting event; Spain and Portugal launched the bid before Morocco joined it; Spain is the leading power in world football and the reigning world champion in both the men’s and the women’s game.

This is not the party’s first move on this ground. According to El Español, the People’s Party had already asked the government, back in August 2026, for Spain to drop out of hosting if the final were played in Morocco.

What this changes for a fan: nothing for now. It is a party position, conditional on an election result and then on a FIFA decision that has not been taken. No withdrawal procedure has been started, and we found no public reaction to these remarks from FIFA or from the Spanish federation. Tickets, the calendar and the stadium list are unaffected.

No signature guarantees the final to Spain

This is the most useful factual point of these two days, and it comes from El Español on 6 November. The paper writes that the bid’s technical document, the one FIFA examined, listed the two large Spanish stadiums and the Moroccan venue among the proposals for the deciding match. It also recalls two dates: the letter of intent was signed in Rabat on 28 October 2023 by the three federation presidents, and the meeting between Pedro Sánchez and Gianni Infantino in New York, on 19 September 2023, produced no written commitment on where the final would be played.

In other words, the Spanish belief in an acquired right to the final rests, to this day, on no public document that establishes it.

What to take away

No official allocation — not the final, not the opening match, not the semi-finals. FIFA must first approve the stadium list (late 2026 – early 2027 depending on the source). If the timeline reported by Mundo Deportivo holds, the name of the final venue will only be known in 2028, two years before the tournament. We will update this page as soon as a decision is published on fifa.com. New as of 5 November 2026: where the final is played has become an issue in the campaign for the Spanish general election of 29 November. That changes neither FIFA’s process nor its timetable.