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Four South American nations have officially launched their joint bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay are seeking to stage the tournament, which will mark the centenary of the first of the first World Cup, held in Uruguay in 1930.
Each country’s government has given its backing to the bid – dubbed 2030 Juntos, meaning ‘2030 Together’ – with officials coming together this week for its official launch.
CONMEBOL, South American football’s governing body, said in a statement that the bid is strengthened by the continent’s prominent role in the foundation of the World Cup and Argentina’s recent triumph at Qatar 2022.
Alejandro Domínguez, president of CONMEBOL, said: “We have a team. We believe big and FIFA has an obligation to honour 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.”
FIFA will announce the destination for the 2030 World Cup at the 74th FIFA Congress to be held in 2024. A joint bid has been launched by Spain, Portugal and Ukraine, with Morocco having also officially entered the race. It has been reported a joint bid between Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece — three nations from three different continental confederations — could also be launched.
A joint bid between Argentina and Uruguay was first proposed as far back as 2016, with Paraguay and Chile later expressing their interest in a collaboration. The Juntos 2030 bid has also invited Bolivia to become a fifth joint host nation in what would be an even more ambitious project. Only the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan has had more than one host nation, with the 2026 event to be staged by the US, Canada and Mexico.
“As world champions, we launch this candidacy that is the dream of all South Americans,” said Claudio Tapia, the president of Argentina’s football association. “Not just because of the centenary of the first edition, but because of the passion with which we experience football.”
The Juntos 2030 bid committee is chaired by Sebastián Bauza, of Uruguay’s National Sports Secretariat, with Matías Lammens, representing Argentina’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, as vice-president.
Diego Galeano, head of Paraguay’s National Sports Secretariat, said: “We have already held meetings in all the countries and that shows that our interest is true. This World Cup for us has to be in 2030, not another year. It has to be in its centenary, where it all started, in South America, in our house. Hopefully we can achieve it.”
The World Cup has been held in South America four times since Uruguay 1930, with Brazil playing host in 1950 and 2014, Chile in 1962 and Argentina in 1978.
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