Four South American countries make joint FIFA 2030 World Cup bid

Four South American countries, namely Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile, have taken the first step in presenting a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup, which will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup in Uruguay.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) and the sports ministers of the four countries made an announcement on Tuesday highlighting this joint bid, which will symbolically mark a century since the first competition of its kind.

The president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, was convinced that the bid of the four countries would be a success after Argentina’s triumph at the World Cup in Qatar. Sebastián Bauzá, Uruguay’s sports secretary, spoke of a “dream” to host the World Cup again, a century after the first competition in his country.

“FIFA must come and celebrate where we organized the first World Cup a hundred years ago […] The celebration of the first hundred years of the first World Cup must remain in history,” he said.

He announced that the official presentation of this joint bid to FIFA will take place soon and that the final decision will be made in 2024 between this South American bid and the one presented jointly by Spain and Portugal.

Alexandra Venado Vergara, Chile’s Minister of Sports, considered this dream of the four countries of the region to host a World Cup “legitimate” thanks to “a serious and sustainable bid. I have no doubt that we will win the organization of the 2030 World Cup.”

Conmebol president Alejandro Domínguez said FIFA should honor the pioneers who organized the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930 by naming that country and its neighbors as hosts for the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup.

Earlier in the day, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez announced on his social networks that he would like Bolivia to join the four countries to submit a five-country bid.