Portugal and Spain had previously launched a joint bid to host the 2018 tournament, but lost out to Russia.
The bid, involving two of the more successful football nations of the past decade, alongside one of Africa’s top teams and most developed nations, is seen as one which football’s world governing body FIFA, would find hard not to seriously consider.
According to a report published in Spanish newspaper El Pais, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday offered Morocco the possibility of making a joint bid with Spain and Portugal to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Sources in the Spanish government told El Pais that Sánchez made the suggestion while on a state visit to Rabat, where he met with King Mohammed VI and Prime Minister Saadeddine Al Othmani. The initiative was reportedly well received by Moroccan authorities, El Pais said, despite also considering a North African bid alongside Tunisia and Algeria.
While discussions surrounding a possible tri-nation bid were not on any official agendas, the informal contacts in Rabat came just days before the staging of the Iberian Summit.
Pedro Sánchez was expected to raise the issue on the sidelines of the summit with his Portuguese counterpart. António Costa insisted before the summit that no formal talks had taken place.
António Costa, has also to date refused to comment on the possibility of a joint candidacy.
“I will not comment on an issue that has never been officially raised,” said Costa in an interview with Lusa News Agency published on Thursday.
But the strength of the Portugal-Morocco-Spain bid is further underlined by the fact that success will be close to being guaranteed, as Spain and Portugal could attract favourable votes from many European and Latin American countries, while Morocco could get backing from African and Arab nations.
This comes after El Pais revealed that Luis Rubiales, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), met with Sánchez in September in the company of FIFA president Gianni Infantino. At the meeting, Rubiales asked the Spanish leader for help bidding for either the 2028 UEFA European Championship or for the 2030 World Cup.
At that time, the RFEF was reportedly only contemplating yet another joint bid with Portugal.
Back in June, Morocco also tried to host the 2026 World Cup, but lost to a heavyweight joint bid by Mexico, Canada and the United States.
Morocco is currently building a new stadium in Casablanca, with a capacity for 93,000 fans.
Spain hosted the World Cup for the first and only time in 1982, which was also the last time a major tournament was staged in the country. Portugal meanwhile was home to the highly successful Euro 2004, while Morocco has seen six bids to host the showpiece tournament fail on each occasion.
Opposition for the Portugal-Spain-Morocco bid is expected to be tough.
Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay have been preparing their 2030 bid for over a year, while South Korea are looking to gain extra mileage from their bid by involving North Korea, along with China and Japan.
Finally, repeated reports have also indicated that the UK is looking to join forces with Ireland to host a successful bid, after controversially losing to the bids of Russia and Qatar.