28 attractions, six themed areas… It’s the first park in the world entirely dedicated to football! Located just a 3-hour flight from Paris, its opening is planned for the next World Cup in 2030.
While the 2026 FIFA World Cup is in full swing across the Atlantic, some countries are already preparing for the next football competition scheduled in four years. But we are not talking here about building stadiums for the players, but an entire amusement park entirely dedicated to football. This is a world first: unlike Real Madrid World in Dubai for example, this time the park will be completely “neutral”. No particular club will be highlighted, but the entire culture of football in its entirety, from its history to its cultural impact throughout the world. “No flags. No clubs. A space where the only identity that matters is the love of the game”we read on the official website of the project.
The complex will extend over 80 hectares, and will offer no less than 28 attractions, including roller coasters, water slides, and even carousels, all in settings always centered around the white and black ball. There will also be a hotel with 300 rooms to accommodate visitors.
The park itself will be divided into six thematic zones: a welcome area, a “heritage and retail” corner designed like a football museum where there will also be shops, a food court type food court with food from all over the world, a large immersive Fan Zone where you can watch matches live, an entertainment zone with a performance arena that can accommodate 4,000 people, and finally the “Football World”, the central core of the park which will put sport in the spotlight “in its purest form”. Built around a lake, this area will itself be divided into four sub-districts: the “Centre Circle” area, starting point of “experience” where a huge FIFA trophy will be erected; the “Passion” zone mainly focused on aquatic attractions; the “Glory” zone, imagined as a “pantheon” football heroes; and finally the “Fantasy” zone, dedicated to budding little players.
True football fans will have understood: it is in Portugal that we will find this giant amusement park, called Viva Mundo – World of football. The project was announced and approved by the municipal council of Santarém, a town located about an hour’s drive north of Lisbon, this Thursday, June 11, 2026. Construction should begin in the first quarter of 2027, with an opening scheduled for April 29, 2030, a few weeks before the start of the next World Cup, organized by Spain, Morocco and therefore Portugal. A symbolic date which also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the very first FIFA World Cup, held in 1930.
The local press is already announcing it as the future “Disneyland of football”, which should redesign the entire region and create up to 1,000 direct jobs. Viva Mundo also aims to welcome 1 million visitors in the first year, then around 1.5 million per year thereafter. In total, 450 million euros of private investment, from British and Portuguese funds, are allocated to this gigantic project, which aims to become “the first destination in the world dedicated to football”.
The project is now entering its administrative phase. The chosen land – the Quinta de Santo António, ceded by the parish of Marvila – being currently classified as a non-buildable rural zone, the municipality of Santarém has officially launched the modification of its urban plan to allow the deployment of infrastructure. At the same time, the promoters are working to obtain the status of “Project of National Interest”, a crucial recognition to speed up the procedures of this titanic project. A real race against time is underway behind the scenes to transform the Santarém region and build what is already shaping up to be the new temple of world football culture.
