NEW DELHI:
Four South American nations, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay, have officially submitted the joint bid to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
The South American nations are calling for the tournament to return to where football was born. However, Fifa will announce the host of the 2030 World Cup next year.
“The South American countries Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile officially launched their joint candidacy to host the highest soccer event in 2030,” the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said in a tweet.
CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez said: “We have a team. We believe big and FIFA has an obligation to honor the history of those men who made a world tournament possible 100 years ago. I am sure those men would be surprised to see what soccer has achieved.”
Claudio Tapia, President of the Argentine Football Association added: “We dream of hosting this cup again on its centenary. All South Americans have a lot of passion, we live football that way.
“We must show the world that Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile are up to the job of hosting the 2030 World Cup. We have the support of all the presidents of the 10 federations that make up CONMEBOL.”
The bid follows a similar pattern to the 2026 tournament that will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The four South American nations will compete with a Spain-Portugal along with individual bids from Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
Uruguay won the first World Cup in 1930 in a 4-2 win over Argentina. It hasn’t hosted it since, while Chile has once in 1962 and Argentina once in 1978. Paraguay is the only outlier of the four to have never hosted a World Cup. IANS