Alejandro Dominguez, president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), confirmed on Wednesday that Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay will host the opening matches of the 2030 Centennial World Cup.

"We believed big. The 2030 Centennial World Cup begins where it all began. Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will host the opening matches of the Centennial World Cup," Dominguez said through the social network X.

Dominguez explained in a press conference reviewed by the Paraguayan media Radio Ñandutí en X, that the Centennial Cup "will unite six countries in America and Europe."

South America, the place where it all began, will once again be the scene of the opening of the World Cup in 2030 🏆 @tapiachiqui @nachoalonso33 @RHarrisonP pic.twitter.com/qzlttxNeIZ

— Alejandro Dominguez (@agdws) October 4, 2023

"Football makes it possible to unite three continents in the ultimate celebration of football. Six countries come together, we are tremendously happy. It is a historical fact, "said the representative of Conmebol.

In the South American case, he said, there will be three inaugurations of the event: one in Argentina, another in Paraguay, and one in Uruguay.

"There will be three opening matches, it will start in Uruguay and FIFA will give more details of how it will be with Argentina and Paraguay," said the manager, who announced that these three South American countries are already qualified for that World Cup.

In Europe, Dominguez said, the other three venues will be: Spain, Portugal and Morocco, where the other World Cup matches will be played, including the final.

"World Cups require a lot of investment. Together we achieved it, the World Cup will begin in 2030. It will be inaugurated in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, and from here we go to Europe, where the matches and the final will be played, "explained the manager.

The initiative of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to host the World Cup in 2030 was raised in 2017 and began to be promoted in Moscow during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The motivation arose because in 2030 the centenary of the first World Cup will be celebrated, which was celebrated in Uruguay; which prompted the representatives of the three countries to submit a joint bid to organize the event.

The general coordinator of the 2030 World Cup initiative, Fernando Marín, said in 2018 that the World Cup should be held in South America "for history, for background, for the century we commemorate and for everything that football means in these three countries."

In addition, he highlighted the importance of the "legacy" that this event would leave, which in addition to sports, impacts the social, educational and cultural.

(With information from RT en Español)