Spain has previously hosted the FIFA World Cup finals in 1982, while Portugal has never hosted the tournament. Both countries have hosted the finals of the European Championship once – Spain in 1964 and Portugal in 2004. The two countries had previously submitted an unsuccessful joint bid to host the FIFA World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. FIFA's rules for rotating the tournament between continents made UEFA members, including the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), ineligible to bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.