Rabat – Spain’s left-wing Sumar party has called on the country to reconsider co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Morocco and Portugal following the recent migration crisis in Ceuta.
Sumar, a junior partner in Spain’s coalition government, submitted a motion to parliament on Wednesday asking Spanish sports authorities to review the plan to jointly host the tournament with Morocco and Portugal.
The motion is not binding, and its approval appears unlikely. Sumar holds 26 seats in Spain’s 350-member parliament, although the party remains influential as it holds ministerial positions in the government led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The call follows a major migration crisis last week, when tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish-occupied city of Ceuta. Spain’s Interior Ministry said that nearly all of them were later returned, while around 2,000 people remained in the city, including about 1,000 minors.
Sánchez has defended Morocco’s response, saying Moroccan authorities acted quickly to help return most of the people who crossed into Ceuta. In addition, Morocco’s Ministry of the Interior has maintained that the crisis was fueled by misinformation spread online, migrant smuggling networks, and false interpretation of a recent Spanish court ruling.
‘Unsustainable’
However, opposition figures and Spain’s defense minister have called on Morocco to provide a more detailed explanation of its response to the crisis. Nahuel González, a Sumar lawmaker who helped draft the motion, accused Morocco of using migration flows for political purposes and raised concerns about human rights.
“We are asking Spain’s sports institutions to reconsider this World Cup that will be shared with Morocco because we believe that human rights must be defended,” González said in comments to Spain’s public broadcaster TVE.
However, González did not clarify whether Sumar wants Morocco to be removed as a host or whether Spain should withdraw from organizing the tournament.
Portugal’s small left-wing Livre party expressed similar concerns. The party sent a letter to Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, calling for the World Cup plan to be reassessed and describing it as “unsustainable” following the Ceuta crisis.
Spain, Morocco, and Portugal are set to host most of the 2030 World Cup. Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay will each host one match as part of celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup, which was held in Uruguay in 1930.
