The contradiction between Conmebol, FIFA in World Cup 2030 host country announcement

On Wednesday, both Conmebol and FIFA announced three 2030 World Cup matches will be held in South America to honor the centenary of the tournament, whose first edition took place in Uruguay in 1930.

Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay will host one match each, with the rest of the competition being held in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal – whose joint bid to host the World Cup has been initially accepted by the governing body as the sole candidacy.

While FIFA announced that Morocco, Portugal, and Spain qualify automatically for the 2030 World Cup (the decision has to be confirmed in 2024), its statement doesn’t clarify whether the three South American countries have also secured a spot – something that was previously announced during the Conmebol press conference.

FIFA has yet to confirm Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay’s berths for 2030 World Cup

Paraguayan FA president Robert Harrison said during the Conmebol announcement that Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay are already qualified for the 2030 World Cup, something that FIFA has yet to confirm.

One would assume that the three South American nations should be granted a 2030 World Cup spot for hosting matches, but that cannot be confirmed until the governing body says so. However, let’s keep in mind that the final decision in regard to the 2030 World Cup will be announced in 2024 by the FIFA Congress.

In an overview of the bidding process, FIFA stated that if Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay are confirmed to host these matches, they will automatically qualify for the 2030 World Cup:

“In the event that the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) and the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) are confirmed to host the centenary celebration matches as part of the final competition of the FIFA World Cup 2030, they will directly qualify for the Competition from CONMEBOL’s allocation of 6.5 teams.”

Therefore, maybe we have to wait until then to see if Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay automatically qualify. Meanwhile, Morocco, Spain, and Portugal’s spots are also subject to the completion of the bidding process in 2024.