2030 World Cup

After watching a lot of the Olympics this past week I am kind of glad China is ruled out for 2030. As bad as Qatar 2022 is, China would have been worse.

But comparisons aside, what a disaster having these two countries host the 2 biggest sporting events of the year. A place where its too hot to play soccer at the time of year when the WC is supposed to be played, and a place hosting winter sports where there is no snow. And weather is the least of the problems.

I'd laugh if it wasn't just so sad.

 

I've done some digging and it seems the rule was changed in April 2015.

??!

Despite that, UEFA were excluded from bidding for 2026.

 

I've seen some news reports from the time and FIFA were discussing allowing UEFA to bid, initially allowing a bid from UEFA but eventually decided that for 2026 they would only accept a UEFA nation's bid if no suitable bids were received from elsewhere. FIFA being FIFA can always do what they want and ban AFC from bidding for 2030 on a one off basis, but as the statutes currently stand they can bid.

 

Not referenced directly in the article above but other reports quote the feasibility report as concluding that the hosting Euro 2028 gives the UK and Ireland the same financial return as hosting World Cup 2030 but with the financial reward being received sooner (not sure if it's basic as the tournament being two years sooner or if they were getting at something else).

I guess a combination of UEFA backing the Spain & Portugal bid along with perceived support for the South America "centenary" bid caused the UK to focus on the more winnable contest for hosting Euro 2028.

Pragmatic as that kind of thinking is, if you live here and you've already waited for the World Cup to come here since forever, you can't help but be disappointed. Also, if the UK does land Euro 2028 is that then going to negatively impact any possible bid to host the World Cup in 2034?

 

Following on from the above as I missed the 30 minute deadline to edit:

Should Euro 2028 come to the UK when is the next World Cup for which the UK can realistically be considered a World Cup host (assuming the retention of the format of a World Cup every four years)?

I fear we might be be talking about the UK not hosting until the 2040's.

 

euro is in no relation to world cup selection but it appears FA does not believe in their own ability and credibility in terms of winning the bidding war.

back to your question, it will depend on who gets 2030 cup, who bids for the following ones and what happens with FIFA intention to stage the world cup every two years. a lot of unknowns at the moment

 

Thanks, I get that, but if England does host Euro 2028 history suggests the World Cup won't come here for a long time:

France hosted Euro 84 and had the World Cup in 1998 - 14 years later.

Germany hosted Euro 88 and the World Cup didn't come there until 2006 - 18 years later.

Portugal hosted Euro 2004 and is currently a candidate to host 2030 jointly with Spain. Nothing guaranteed but if it does come off that will be a whole 26 years later.

I know there are variables and possible changes coming but if the above pattern repeats itself the home of football might not see a World Cup until the 2040's

 

The reality is UEFA will have a preferred bidder for 2030. Clearly that is Spain/Portugal. The FA and other associations in these islands read the tea leaves and realised they had no chance of winning.

The realpolitik dictated then they ask for 2028. With Italy then withdrawing until 2032 this is almost certainly a done deal.

I appreciate there are other European bids but I don't think any are serious contenders.

If the Spain/Portugal bid is successful for 2030 then the race will be on to become UEFA's next preferred bidder for the WC.

 

Did France, Germany and Portugal bid on any World Cups in between their hosting of the Euro and when they ultimately landed hosting the World Cup?

Italy hosted Euro 80.
The hosting of the 82 and 86 World Cups had already been decided.
The next available was 1990. That’s 10 years but they bid for the next available World Cup. Won out over the Soviet Union, iirc.
As far as I know France did not bid on 1990.

 

West Germany in 1990.

It's difficult to determine any pattern in this though because we don't know what's arranged behind closed doors. For all I know, Germany might have let France host 1998 if France agreed to support Germany's bid for 2006.

 

West Germany bid on 1990? I have no recollection of that.

Germany basically had all of Europe’s support for 2006.
Except England’s. I remember England entered the 2006 race around 98/99.
Many were shocked by England’s bid and Germany were furious because they claimed an agreement had been made where they supported England’s bid for Euro 96 in exchange for England’s support for 2006.
England denied any such agreement but their entry in the 2006 race appeared to upset many.
Btw, their 2006 bid was the main reason why Manchester United sacrificed playing in the 2000 FA Cup for participating in the FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil. The English FA felt that if Man Utd declined playing in the FIFA event it would harm England’s chances of hosting 2006. But it’s likely the damage had already been done.

 

West Germany apparently expressed its interest in bidding for the 1990 WC by the deadline but did not confirm it with an actual bid.

Your recollection of the circumstances around the award of the 2006 WC to Germany over England (and Brazil, Morocco and, very controversially, South Africa) is correct.

Meanwhile, last Thursday the FIFA Ordinary Congress agenda was approved by the FIFA Council and had to be sent at the latest yesterday to the member associations. We may have to wait until a few days before the Congress on 31 March before it is published. However, the FIFA annual report 2021 which has been approved by the Council for submission to the Congress said, in the part about the 2023-26 cycle FIFA budget:

Looking ahead FIFA continues to shape football in every corner of the world, with many potential changes ahead as it endeavours to make football truly global and give every talent a chance. In line with this strategy, the 71st FIFA Congress [held in May 2021] approved a number of proposals to explore new opportunities for the FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup, along with other women’s competitions and youth tournaments. It goes without saying that the potential and significant decisions to be made regarding both new and existing tournaments as well as new development and other football programmes could have a major impact on the upcoming cycle budget. For this reason, the budget for the 2023-2026 cycle will be presented in late 2022 at an additional FIFA Congress for approval.

Based on this extract, I think it is possible that the new WC concept - including the new IMC with a WC scheduled for 2028 and continental championships for 2029 instead - is going to be put to the vote in Doha.

 

It's a fair point, but as Boca Fan suggests, there's a lot of closed door politics we don't know about. Just because a nation didn't submit a formal bid to host doesn't necessarily mean they weren't interested. I would imagine in many cases the non-submission of a bid indicated that the nation was realistic that having not long hosted a Euros that FIFA wouldn't seriously consider them as hosts for the next World Cup.

Of course, I'm speculating, but what can't be denied is whatever the underlying reason, nations who host a Euros don't end up hosting a World Cup for at least a decade, in most cases longer. If you're a UK based fan wanting to see a World Cup in your country in the foreseeable future history isn't looking good for you

 

So there are 3 official bids for Euro 2028, of which two are serious.

1 - England, No Ireland, Ireland, Wales, Scotland
2 - Turkey
3 - Russia

I guess this just confirms the rumors that the UK has no intention to bid for the 2030 World Cup.

I feel like Turkey has been waiting to host this thing forever. Let's see if they get it this time...

 

UEFA's preferred bidder for 2030 is clearly Spain/Portugal. Hence the 2028 bid. Italy withdrew from 2028 to focus on 2032. Reading between the lines is not too difficult to figure out UEFA's preferred options.

I would be amazed if the 5 nation bid missed out on 2028.

UEFA do not seem keen to go to Turkey. I think Turkey would host a magnificent tournament and I hope they get it someday. I think 2036 is probably the earliest though.

 

Turkey bid on Euro 2020 and likely would have hosted it (Azerbaijan was the only other bid).
But Turkey also had Istanbul bid on the 2020 Olympics and IOC rules stated that a city could not host another major international sporting event the same year that they wanted to bid on the Games.
So Turkey dropped out of Euro 2020 and placed everything on the Olympics.
That left Azerbaijan as the sole bidder which likely prompted UEFA to come up with that Pan-Euro.

 

The first bid is the safe option for UEFA although the second bid could be exciting and exploring a new market. My theory is that Turkey itself will try to invade Iraq and Syria in a couple of years. So, I expect the the UK bid to be chosen or if Turkey is chosen that they get stripped of the hosting rights afterwards.

 

Germany 2024
USA-Canada-Mexico 2026
UK 2028
Spain-Portugal 2030

Is it too good to be true...?

 

I see absolutely nothing good with US/Canada hosting 2026 and I think UK had enough of Euro as well, but that is of course just my opinion.

I consider myself retired from big tournament travels, only Argentina and Turkey could change that, but if it ever happens I am probably going to be too old for that! 2036 I will be 72, if I make it that far ... so unfortunately ...no way :-(

 

I see a lot of good with 2026 in US/Canada/Mexico, but some negatives for sure, too. I'm dubious about the 3 team group format, but that is a different topic.

 

Sounds more like that super league nonsense didn't go down well, at all, as you'd expect and they're still dealing with it in the courts (prolly burning through money that could have been put to better use). Was it something (specific) he said you feel was petty/condescending? We might be thinking about different parts of the interview.

Doubt that's what he's talking about. Then again later he talks about how timid Spanish supporters are (rather sheepishly accepting that super league tripe). It's pretty odd that there were more German away fans though, especially galling for a so-called "people's club" like Barca; still they don't expect travelling fans for away games even within Spain, let alone in European competitions; they're kinda weird like that.

NBA-ification; I wouldn't want a single super league closed off to anyone either.
Possibly there would be some repercussions for the international game. Who are the last 3 World Champions in basketball? Who is it now? Lithuania? Who cares. Not sure players would snub the World Cup anytime soon though; other games they probably would; there definitely would be more pressure on players.

OTOH I'm a proponent if you keep promotion/relegation and there are cross-European leagues at the top of the football pyramid (with national and lower levels at the base); it's open and you can move up/down based on merit. Currently the CL has a distorting impact on competitive balance (usually dumping tonnes of money on one or a few clubs that can use CL revenue/visibility to dominate their league).

Not really rank pettiness. Instead it's closer to the founding idea behind FIFA (and UEFA, I guess, in the same vein). Especially in the early days when the football landscape in Europe was a patchwork, with stuff that you'd hardly recognize as being part of the same game (let alone the multitude of leagues and cups organized by your newspaper of "choice"), there was a need to get on the same page. Rivalling gangs eventually were snuffed out and the FIFA mob ruled alone.

If those Spanish, Italian giants feel they've outgrown their leagues, well they aren't shackled down and can leave to create their own league. Turns out the cowards didn't want to take the plunge.

8 is plenty; doesn't need to be the CL and a couple of guests; quite happy to keep ignoring the CWC though (it's broken, but also beyond repair, so why bother with it).

I do agree with Ceferin that CONMEBOL teams have more to gain than UEFA teams; why not though, there's room at the table for more; yet some CONMEBOL teams might not like the league they end up in +/- UEFA teams could be moved down a league/won't be promoted to make room (doubt to see happy faces in those cases); AFAIK nothing has been made public about how all these teams will fit in (groups and leagues; changes to promotion/relegation?); prolly will work itself out in the end. Best not to leave it too long or, like the club game, CONMEBOL teams won't be able to compete; Chile and Colombia already weaker now (what league do they belong in).

Will it always take place in Europe? In CONMEBOL circles it is believed that football is ideally played at 1,598,786 metres above sea level, at least that's what I keep hearing. Quite peculiar. Also, they insist on living in a godawful time zone. Would make more sense to join up with CONCACAF if you want to be practical.

Playing Brazil more often sounds fun. Venezuela will most likely want to come over too; I guess it's no worse than playing Italy, who seem unable to qualify for a World Cup as well. So count me in.

 

There is a travelling away supporters section in La Liga matches. It tends to be smaller than in, say, English matches though. And there are most definitely away supporters sections in European matches involving Spanish teams - whether the match is in Spain or another country.

Yeah, CWC just doesn't work for a sport with such a huge disparity in quality across top teams from different global regions. FIFA can bang their heads against the wall trying to figure out a format for the CWC that works, but unless/until there is at least a modest degree of competitive balance they are just wasting their time.

In other news, there are no African or South American teams in the World Ice Hockey championships.