Laporta Pushes Camp Nou as Third Option for 2030 World Cup Final

Overview

• Barcelona president Joan Laporta publicly urged that the refurbished Camp Nou be nominated alongside Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu and Morocco’s planned Hassan II as a candidate to host the 2030 final, saying "Casablanca and Madrid are the same".
• The Camp Nou rebuild is scheduled to finish with a roof by 2027 and is expected to raise capacity to about 105,000, a point Laporta says should factor into FIFA’s decision.
• Morocco’s federation president Fouzi Lekjaa previously claimed the final would be at the proposed Hassan II Stadium, which is planned to hold about 115,000, but FIFA has repeatedly said no final venue has been decided.
• Laporta tied the hosting push to wider club positions by defending players’ freedom of expression after the Ceuta/Elche episode and saying Catalan symbols should be allowed at matches so long as they do not express hatred.
• The dispute risks stoking Spain–Morocco diplomatic sensitivity and will hinge on formal nominations, the completion timetables for both stadium projects, and any official announcement from FIFA.