South American countries official candidacy

Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile made official this Tuesday their joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup, at an event held in Buenos Aires. The meeting was attended and supported by the President of Conmebol, Alejandro Domínguez.

The motto of the candidacy is “2030 Together” and has as its motto the centenary of the first World Cup in history, held in South America, in Uruguay. “We dream of hosting the Cup again in the centenary. All South Americans have a lot of passion, we live football this way”, declared the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio Tapia.

He stated that the four countries are in a position to host the great football event in 2030, when the Cup will have already increased in size, from 32 to 48 teams – the debut of the extended version of the World Cup will take place in 2026, with a triple seat, made up of the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“We know that this is a very big commitment and that we must show the world that Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile are ready to host the World Cup”, reinforced the host Tapia, who indicated that he should be the leader of the group of four countries in this application.

During the event, the AFA official paid and received praise from the president of Conmebol, mainly for having revived the Argentine national team, champion of the World Cup in Qatar, in December

“I want to thank President Alejandro Domínguez. In the face of a pandemic, he made important decisions. For that, I recognize his work and thank him for his courage and for having accompanied our selection”, declared Tapia.

The president of Conmebol returned the compliments. “There is no organization that works without leadership. And starting with Claudio Tapia, the entire Argentine delegation achieved something that it was not conquering. May the rest of the world feel Argentine”, said Domínguez, who said he nominated the Argentine leader for an award of the CONMEBOL Council.

World Cup with 5 countries?

Absent at the event, the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, suggested the inclusion of one more country in the group trying to host the 2030 Cup. In his opinion, Bolivia could also host matches in the tournament, if the candidacy wins the dispute.

“Our team brought the World Cup to our continent and it would be a huge joy if, 100 years later, the World Cup returned to where it all began: South America. This candidacy is from the entire continent. That’s why I would like to propose that our neighboring country, Bolivia, be part of this dream”, declared the president, through social networks.

So far, the South American group has only one rival to try to host the Cup. This is the joint candidacy of Spain, Portugal and Ukraine, the latter recently added to the group. New candidates may still appear in the coming months. The choice will only take place in 2024, at the 74th FIFA Congress, on a date yet to be defined.