Argentina's centenary three-nation bid with Paraguay and Uruguay to host the World Cup in 2030 and bring back the tournament to South America may have a new rival: England.
According to reports in England, the Football Association (FA) is considering putting itself forward as a potential host for the 2030 World Cup. Officials confirmed on Wednesday it has approved a feasibility study into becoming Europe's only bid. England won the only World Cup it has ever hosted in 1966 but lost out in the race to host the 2006 and 2018 competitions.
"Last month the English FA board agreed to conduct feasibility work into the possibility of putting itself forward to be UEFA's potential candidate to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup," FA chairman Greg Clarke said in a statement. "This work will take place during the new season and no decision will be made until 2019."
The most recent defeat was an embarrassing and expensive affair, with England going out in the first round of voting, but the FA has made little secret of its interest in trying again, particularly as it now has more faith in FIFA's selection process.
With the World Cup growing from 32 to 48 teams in 2026, when the 80-game tournament will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States, FIFA has hinted it believes the event may be too big for one country. This has led to speculation that any bid from the United Kingdom will actually be an English-led joint bid.
The FA has not confirmed or denied if it is considering a joint bid with any combination of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but it has now formally admitted it is studying options.
It follows a Sunday Times report that Qatar's bid engaged in a "dirty tricks" campaign to discredit its rivals in the build-up to the 2010 vote, an allegation Qatar has denied.
If proven true, however, former FA chairman Lord Triesman told the newspaper FIFA should give the World Cup to England, as it had the know-how and infrastructure in place to stage one at short notice.
This intervention was not well received by the FA's current regime.
"FIFA has chosen Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup and they have a duty to investigate any issues around the process that are rightly thrown into question," said Clarke. "Russia did a brilliant job hosting the 2018 World Cup and we support the rotation of World Cup hosting among the confederations. That would make the 2030 World Cup the next one a European nation might be able to host, and not before. Anyone suggesting otherwise is acting disrespectfully to our global game and does not speak for the English FA."
The 2030 battle looks set to be between a Moroccan-led North African bid, the joint bid from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and whoever emerges from Europe.
Of those two, the South American bid looks the most compelling as 2030 will be the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup in Uruguay and South America will claim it is its turn next.
- AFP
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