“It is an important moment for our country, it is an event with a very relevant impact, it is one of the great international events on a global scale, whose impact reaches billions of people on a planetary scale and it is an honour for Portugal to be able to participate in this”, he said.

Pedro Duarte assured that “Portugal is committed” to this organisation and remembering that it has infrastructures that allow it to host the competition “without a significant increase in investment.”

“We are going to have a very impactful return, I think there is no doubt about that. This comes, in fact, from the merit of the candidacy, from the people who got involved, from a history of organizing events that is, in fact, recognized in international terms and, in fact, ultimately, from a passion for sport and a passion for football that our people have”, he said.

Considering that this “is a day of great joy, of national pride, but also of responsibility”, Pedro Duarte guaranteed that “the Portuguese State, evidently, is committed to the success of the event” and admitted that there may “be some investment associated” .

“But it will be, in fact, I would say residual, given the impact of the return that we are expecting. This is because, essentially, a significant investment was clearly made in 2004, on the occasion of Euro2004, in new stadiums, and other types of infrastructure that are adjacent to the stadiums themselves. And so, at this point, we will eventually need some investment, but it is an investment that I would say is natural, which would always occur in the circumstance that we need to update, modernise some infrastructure”, he stated.

For Pedro Duarte, comparing “the necessary investment with the expected return”, this “is a great solution for the country and the country will gain a lot from it”, although he preferred not to value the return that there could be for Portugal.

The three Portuguese stadiums that are candidates to host World Cup 2030 games will be the Estádio da Luz, the Estádio José Alvalade, both in Lisbon, and the Estádio do Dragão, in Porto, with Benfica's venue being the only one of the three with a minimum capacity of 60,000 – and could host one of the semi-finals of the competition.

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