Morocco FA chief claims Casablanca will host the 2030 World Cup final amid Spain venue row

The president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, has claimed that Casablanca will stage the 2030 World Cup final. The comments come as Morocco and Spain remain locked in a heated contest over the most important match of the tournament, with FIFA still to announce an official venue.

What the Moroccan FA president said about the 2030 World Cup final

Speaking at a political party event in Bouznika, Lekjaa declared that the province of Benslimane will have the honour of hosting the decisive match. The town sits around 60 kilometres from Casablanca and is the site of the Hassan II stadium, a venue under construction with an expected capacity of 115,000.

Once completed, the Hassan II is set to become the largest football-specific stadium in the world. Its enormous scale forms part of Morocco's push to sit at the centre of the first World Cup ever shared across six nations and three continents.

Spain vs Morocco: the battle to host the 2030 World Cup final

The joint 2030 bid splits the main hosting duties between Morocco, Portugal and Spain, while the opening three matches will be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay as a tribute to the centenary of the first World Cup. That unprecedented structure has left the final venue up for grabs, turning it into the main prize contested by Madrid and Rabat.

Royal Spanish Football Federation president Rafael Louzan has publicly argued that Spain should host the final. Sports minister Milagros Tolon went further, pointing out that Spain are the reigning men's and women's world champions and that the original bid was spearheaded by Spain and Portugal before Morocco joined.

The Hassan II stadium: Morocco's biggest card for the 2030 final

The Benslimane venue is emerging as the strongest argument in Morocco's bid. With an estimated cost of $12 billion and a capacity of 115,000, it would surpass every stadium built specifically for football anywhere in the world.

The infrastructure is part of the sporting modernisation drive Morocco has pushed in recent years, boosted by the national team's historic semi-final run at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That performance fuelled the country's ambition to host the biggest occasions in international football.

What FIFA has said about the 2030 World Cup final venue

World football's governing body has not confirmed a venue for the showpiece match. In August, FIFA pushed back against reports suggesting that president Gianni Infantino had promised the final to Morocco, describing those claims as false and misleading.

A FIFA spokesperson insisted at the time that the decision would be made in due course. That official stance keeps the question open as the Spanish and Moroccan federations step up their campaigns to secure the tournament's ultimate showcase.

What Spain stands to gain from hosting the 2030 final

For Spain, staging the final would cap a golden era in which the men's team won the 2010 World Cup and the women's side lifted the trophy in 2023. The country hosted the 1982 World Cup but has never staged the final of a tournament on this scale as the main host of the decisive match.

The initial Spain-Portugal bid was launched before Morocco entered the project. That history is one of the arguments the Spanish side has used to claim a leading role in the competition's decisive phase.

The province of Benslimane will have the honour of hosting the 2030 World Cup final — Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation