Spotify Camp Nou to host games at 2030 World Cup

FC Barcelona will be hosting games at the 2030 World Cup as officially confirmed this Wednesday. Spain, Portugal and Morocco are sharing hosting duties, as announced at an Extraordinary FIFA Congress at the Spanish Football Federation's headquarters at Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas, Madrid, and naturally the Spotify Camp Nou will be one of the stadiums.

The other selected venues are Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid), Metropolitano (Madrid), RCDE Stadium (Cornellà), La Cartuja (Seville), San Mamés (Bilbao), Estadio Gran Canaria (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), La Rosaleda (Malaga), Reale Arena (San Sebastian), Romareda (Zaragoza), Riazor (La Coruña), Estadio da Luz (Lisbon), José Alvalade (Lisbon), Do Dragao (Porto), Grand Stade Hassan II (Casablanca), Prince Moulay Abdellah (Rabat), Ibn Batouta Stadium (Tangier), Marrakesh Stadium (Marrakesh), Adrar Stadium (Agadir) and Fez Stadium (Fes).

With Espanyol's ground also hosting games, the Catalan capital is set to be one of the hubs for the 48-team tournament. Several of these grounds, including the Spotify Camp Nou, are currently being redeveloped. When it's complete, Barça's new temple will hold an immense 105,000 people, making it the second largest of all venues (the Casablanca stadium is planned to hold 115,000 people when it is complete in 2028), Although the actual games that each ground will be hosting have yet to be announced, Spotify Camp Nou will clearly be playing a huge role by hosting some of the most important fixtures, possibly even the final.

Second time hosting

This will not be the first time that World Cup matches have been played in the stadium. When Spain hosted the 1982 World Cup, the then 100,000 capacity venue hosted the Opening Ceremony, watched by around 1.5 billion people worldwide including the iconic moment when Pablo Picasso's dove of peace took to the air. Defending champions Argentina met Belgium in the inaugural match, Diego Maradona's side losing 1-0.

The stadium was then used again for one of the three-team groups in the second stage. The three matches were Poland 3-0 Belgium (June 28), USSR 1-0 Belgium (July 1) and Poland 0-0 USSR (July 4). And it hosted the semi-final on July 8, when eventual champions Italy beat Poland 2-0.