The United Kingdom and Ireland are relinquishing the hosting of the 2030 World Cup

The United Kingdom and Ireland withdrew their bid to host the 2030 World Cup

With the UK out, Portugal and Spain should be European candidates to host the 2030 World Cup. Photo: Mark Atkins/Getty Images

While football fans await the World Cup in Qatar, at the end of the year, some federations are also thinking about the future, with nominations to host the World Cup in 2030. In this sense, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Ireland have announced that they will not appear to be competing for the organization.

In a joint statement issued by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England, the countries of the United Kingdom and Ireland said, after a feasibility study, that they had decided to focus on organizing Euro 2028 rather than thinking about the World Cup.

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They said hosting the Euros offers a similar return on investment, though they hope the European Championship will come at a lower cost and the potential benefits materialize soon. “It will be an honor and a privilege to collectively host Euro 2028 and welcome all of Europe,” they said, explaining what they expect by hosting the tournament with teams from the “old world”.

“It will also be a great opportunity to show the true impact of hosting a world-class football tournament to create positive change and leave a lasting legacy in our communities,” they explained.

Thus, the host country for the 2030 World Cup, which will be decided at the FIFA 2024 conference, has one less candidate. At the time, the only European bid to stage the 2030 World Cup was jointly Spain and Portugal, although there was also speculation about the possibility of Morocco joining, in a bi-continental bid.

Among the other possible candidates, Morocco could put forward its own candidacy or jointly with Algeria and Tunisia.

Meanwhile, CONMEBOL could have two: On the one hand, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile will make a joint bid after the first announcement in 2017, in which Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were the visible face of the candidacy.

Another possibility is Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, which have also decided to propose hosting the World Cup as another alternative to CONMEBOL.

In Europe, there has also been speculation of a proposal from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Serbia, although UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin intends for Europe to go with one proposal (Portugal and Spain would have more power).