Spain will host 2030 World Cup final, says RFEF President Rafael Louzan

Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Rafael Louzan has said that Spain will stage the final of the 2030 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Morocco wants to stage the game in Casablanca at the Grand Stade Hassan II, a huge stadium currently under construction north of the city. World soccer's ruling body FIFA has the final say on where the match will be played.

"Spain has proven its organisational capacity over many years. It will be the leader of the 2030 World Cup and the final of that World Cup will be held here," Louzan said late on Monday at an event organised by the Madrid Sports Press Association.

Louzan did not say whether the game would take place at Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu or Barcelona's Camp Nou, both of which have been recently refurbished and are the two leading candidates.

HUGE NEW STADIUM IN MOROCCO

Once completed, the Hassan II Stadium in Morocco is expected to hold 115,000 spectators.

Morocco's Royal Football Federation (FRMF) President Faouzi Lekjaa last year expressed his wish to see a final against Spain in Casablanca.

“It will definitely be the biggest (stadium) in the football industry and if not the biggest then the second biggest in the world (overall),” Jorge Betancor, head of operations in Spain for global architecture design company Populous, which is building the stadium for Morocco, said in November.

Construction of the stadium, designed to look like a traditional Moroccan tent, began late last year and should take about two-and-a-half years, Betancor said.

It will be served by a high-speed train line, which is part of a $10 billion expansion of Morocco's rail network ahead of the tournament.

Louzan also alluded to the challenges Morocco faced during its hosting of the last Africa Cup of Nations, including the chaotic scenes during the final between Senegal and Morocco this month.

That match, which Senegal won 1-0, was overshadowed by fan disruptions and player protests that temporarily halted play.

"Morocco is really undergoing a transformation in every sense, with magnificent stadiums," Louzan said.

"We must recognise what has been done well. But in the Africa Cup of Nations, we have seen scenes that damage the image of world football." FIFA and the Portuguese and Moroccan football federations did not respond to requests for comment on the final's location.

FIFA told Reuters last year it was premature to decide the venue for the 2030 final, saying the host city for the 2026 World Cup final was revealed only two years before the tournament.

(Reporting by Fernando Kallas and Charlie Devereux, editing by Ed Osmond)