Spain and Portugal will include Ukraine in their bid to host the 2030 World Cup; it is rumoured that the plan is for Ukraine to host one group at the tournament; a joint-bid from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece is likely while a four-country South American venture is expected
Wednesday 5 October 2022 13:21, UK
Spain and Portugal will announce on Wednesday that Ukraine will be joining their joint-bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
The announcement will be made in a press conference at 1pm BST on Wednesday afternoon, with The Times reporting that the plan is for Ukraine to host one World Cup group in the tournament.
The decision as to who will host the tournament in eight years from now will be decided at a FIFA Congress in 2024, where the 211 member associations will vote on which group is best.
By 2030, the World Cup will have expanded to a 48-team tournament, an increase of 16 more teams from the current format.
After this winter's Qatar World Cup, the United States, Canada and Mexico will host the 2026 edition tournament in a three-nation venture. It will also be the first World Cup in the 48-team format.
Meanwhile, the 2024 European Championships will be held in Germany, with the 2028 tournament hosts still to be decided.
In August of this year, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay announced they would be making a four-country bid to bring the World Cup back to South America.
Apart from Paraguay, all of the countries have hosted the World Cup before, but not since the 1970s. The last time a World Cup was held on the continent was for the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
Sky Sports News understands another three-country bid is expected from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece. None of these three countries have hosted the World Cup before.
In 2018, it was announced that Morocco will make a bid for the 2030 World Cup, with a possible joint-bid with fellow African members Tunisia and Algeria on the cards. Morocco have failed in their bids to host the World Cup in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010.
Another inter-confederation bid on the cards is one led by Israel, with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain options to support that venture. Both Israel and the UAE have hosted editions of the Asia Cup over the past 60 years.
Australia have been mentioned as a potential World Cup host on two separate occasions. In 2015, it was rumoured that New Zealand were looking to team up with the nation in a joint-bid. But in 2019, it was announced that talks were underway over an Australia-Indonesia joint-bid instead.
Both Theresa May and Boris Johnson expressed a desire as Prime Minister to put forward England as a host nation for the 2030 World Cup. However, it was announced in February of this year that England would be part of a UK and Ireland joint-bid for the 2028 European Championships.
The current UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has, however, suggested that England will be aiming to host the 2027 Women's World Cup, after the successful European Championships success last summer.
