THE prospect of Scotland jointly hosting a UK-wide bid for the 2030 World Cup has taken a step forward after the UK Government talked up the UK’s track record on hosting major sporting events.
At the weekend, Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, announced his party's support for an “England-led bid” for the 2030 event.
“Where better to celebrate the centenary of the World Cup than in the nation where football was born," he said.
Theresa May’s spokesman made clear ministers would be “happy to sit down with” football authorities across the four home nations and discuss a UK-wide proposal to host the sporting event in 12 years’ time.
"We have a superb track record for putting on major sporting events and we have the stadiums, infrastructure and experience to deliver should a bid be successful," insisted the spokesman.
Asked whether or not the Government would favour a UK-wide bid over one by England alone, he replied: "We would wait for them to come forward with proposals and look at those in the context of our track record, UK-wide, of delivering these sorts of events.”
He then added: "The UK as a whole has an excellent record in putting on sporting events."
It is not yet known whether or not, if a joint UK-wide bid were successful, all four home nations would automatically qualify as hosts.
FIFA is still to decide whether the US, Mexico and Canada, which have won a joint bid to stage the 2026 tournament, will all be given automatic qualification as is customary for the host or hosts.
In 2002, Japan and South Korea, which were joint hosts, received automatic entry. However, the footballing authorities might baulk at the prospect of four teams automatically qualifying. Yet from 2026, 48 teams rather than 32 will be enrolled in the competition.
Gianni Infantino, Fifa’s President, has already backed the idea of joint bids for the 2030 competition, saying: “For 2030 we have received this bid from three countries in Latin America[Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay]. I believe in joint bids because the World Cup is an enormous event.
"We must not create white elephant stadiums in the desert that won’t be used after the World Cup. It is good to have joint bids and for two or three countries to organise the tournament,” he said.
The North African trio of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria is also set to bid for 2026.
Last month, Aleksander Ceferin, the President of Uefa, supported the idea of a bid by the UK’s four nations. “England alone would have a strong bid but that bid would be even stronger if more countries were involved,” he said.
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