Uruguay
South American nation; two-time World Cup winner and 2030 centenary co-host with Argentina and Paraguay.
Uruguay, confirmed co-host of the 2030 centenary World Cup, saw CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez restate on 21 July the case for expanding that tournament to 64 teams, a proposal FIFA has confirmed nothing on.
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Uruguay is a South American nation of approximately 3.5 million people whose footballing weight has long outstripped its size: two World Cup wins, as inaugural hosts in 1930 and via the Maracanazo upset of Brazil in 1950, plus a record 15 Copa America titles. That history is why Uruguay, together with Argentina and Paraguay, is confirmed to stage the opening matches of the 2030 centenary World Cup, a tournament returning to the country that held the first one exactly a century earlier.
Uruguayan supporters travelling to the 2026 tournament also faced the US Visa Bond Pilot Programme, expanded to 50 nations on 2 April 2026, with the State Department confirming it holds no estimate of the resulting attendance impact . CONMEBOL has raised that exposure collectively with FIFA and the US State Department on Uruguay's behalf, diplomatic weight no single football association could bring alone.
Uruguay's centenary tournament faces a size fight
Uruguay is confirmed, alongside Argentina and Paraguay, to stage the opening matches of the 2030 centenary World Cup, returning the tournament to the country that hosted the first edition a century earlier. CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez restated on 21 July 2026 the confederation's case for expanding that tournament to 64 teams, days after FIFA president Gianni Infantino called the current 48-team format "100 percent" right while leaving the door open to committee review.
A separate hosting dispute surfaced on 23 July over which city stages the 2030 final, Casablanca or Madrid, with the 64-team, 128-match format sitting alongside it as a proposal still only under study by FIFA, not a ratified decision . Uruguay has a direct stake in both fights, since any expansion or format change would reshape the tournament it is due to open.
Uruguay's own campaign stayed unconvincing
Uruguay's 2026 tournament was steady rather than commanding: a 1-1 draw with England at Wembley in a March warm-up , then a 2-2 draw with World Cup debutants Cape Verde on 21 June, a result that Left Group H finely poised with Spain on four points and Uruguay level with Cape Verde on two .
Neither result threatened Uruguay's status as a two-time champion, but neither carried the swagger of the 1930 and 1950 wins that still define the country's footballing reputation. The evidence available here does not record a result beyond the Cape Verde draw.