This week, Spain and Portugal added Ukraine to their bids for the 2030 World Cup. Most likely, it will face donations from South America and a Saudi-led bid that could come with Egypt and Greece.
The most “compact” World Cup of all time will be held in Qatar later this year, but after that, the World Cups will be gigantic events of several countries with 48 teams.
The North American World Cup is setting the trend in 2026, but bids for 2030 are taking it to a new level. With the variety procedure replaced by FIFA to make it more transparent and give each country a vote, applicants will consider how they can attract as many countries as can be imagined in the same way that presidential candidates occasionally decide on a running mate who can appeal to other teams of voters.
UEFA, faced with the chances of bringing the World Cup to Europe in 2030, sought a single offer from the continent, and Spain-Portugal received the green light. After the Euro 2020 European tournament, UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin said such formats would not be used in long-running tournaments, however, now Spain-Portugal has added a country on the other side of the continent to its offer, adding to the demanding travel and logistical situations of hosting the tournament.
Ukraine, the joint host of the 2012 European Championship, with 4 cities hosting matches. Of those 4 stadiums, the Lviv stadium is too small for FIFA’s needs, and the Donbass Arena in Donetsk is heavily damaged and, at the time of writing, is under Russian control.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s Darijo Srna scores in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Array knockout round. [ ] against Borussia Dortmund at the Donbass Arena in February 2013.
All that remains is Kharkiv’s Metalist Stadium, which was reportedly in poor condition even before the war, and Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium, which hosted the Champions League final in 2018.
Even if there is peace in the region until 2024, when the winning bid is decided, those stadiums will need maintenance and improvements, and Ukraine’s already strained finances mean there is unlikely to be more infrastructure for the World Cup.
The plan is for Ukraine to host an organization, which would only require two stadiums (the last games are played simultaneously, so one stadium is not enough). The distance between Kyiv and Lisbon is shorter than that from New York to Los Angeles, but organizations in this Ukraine-based organization feel deprived due to the extra travel.
Spain and Portugal will not give up their plans and will continue to aspire to have the same number of host cities despite the incorporation of Ukraine. As for voting, they will want votes outside Europe and cannot depend on the votes of Spanish speakers. countries because one of the rivals comes from South America. Cynics would say that Ukraine added because Spain and Portugal believe it is a winner, and that it may even be deserted later if the scenario in the region does not improve.
The concept that football can play a role in peace is supported by senior FIFA officials. But many similar peace-based offers, such as South Korea’s proposals for a joint offer with North Korea, have not seen the light of day in the past. .
In fact, this is a greater explanation of why for an offer than sentimentality. South America’s bid for the 2030 World Cup means that, because Uruguay hosted a World Cup a hundred years ago, it is entitled to the 2030 festival (despite a maximum of the maximum number of games likely to take position in Argentina, Chile and Paraguay). If they win, it would be the 6th World Cup in South America, the region has only ten football federations.
As the 2022 World Cup is positioning itself in Asia, Asian football federations were not expected to bid for the 2030 World Cup. Saudi Arabia is trying to circumvent this challenge by seeking to co-sponsor the first multi-confederation World Cup. of Egypt makes sense insofar as the candidacy can be seen as a candidacy uniting the Arab world in a way that Qatar has failed to achieve. However, Greece’s turnout does not seem very likely to win many votes unless it abandons the Spain-Portugal-Ukraine bid.
With the inclusion of Ukraine through Spain and Portugal, the 3 existing bids will involve large displacements and demanding logistical situations of the tournament.
The expansion of the World Cup to 48 groups and the new voting design make the addition of a running mate a win-win proposition for smaller candidate nations, potentially opening up their bid to new voting blocs and reducing the burden of new stadiums and infrastructure design. .
But it may just be because players get more tired from travel, and it can dilute the World Cup atmosphere and the unique feeling that comes with having a single host.