Cardiff, The Football Association of Wales
(FAW) has held talks over a potential home nations bid for the 2030
World Cup.
FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford believes the joint proposal
would be “strong and compelling”.
The Scottish FA has also confirmed that exploratory
discussions have begun while the FA is already looking at a bid that
UEFA has previously said it would “strongly support”.
Ford confirmed there is set to be a feasibility study into the
prospect.
A Downing Street spokesman has also said the UK government
would be supportive of a bid involving the home nations.
The SFA says its current focus is on Euro 2020, with Glasgow
one of the host cities for the tournament, but BBC Scotland
understands the Scottish government is aware of the discussions and
would also support any bid.
“This is something that has come up in conversation and it is
something we are looking into,” Ford told BBC Sport.
“It’s no more than that and there’s going to be no news until at least
midway through 2019.
“But there is going to be a little bit of a feasibility study to see whether
or not a UK-wide bid, a home nations bid or similar, would be a
powerful, strong bid.
“Personally, I think it would be and I think, should we go forward at that
stage – which, as I say, won’t be determined until well into 2019 – I think
we’d have a very strong and compelling bid.
“There’s a long way to go on it but it could be 2030, Fifa World Cup in
the home nations – what a fantastic opportunity that would be.”
The Welsh government is also supportive of any bid, with
economy and transport secretary Ken Skates confirming: “We are fully
aware and supportive of the proposed feasibility study into a potential
2030 UK World Cup bid.
“Given Wales’ proven track record in delivering major events, and our
ambition to host further events, we are fully supportive of the FAW’s
aspirations.”
An English-led home nations bid for the 2030 World Cup was
described in June as “definitely on the radar” by former Scottish FA
boss Stewart Regan.
It came after Fifa vice-president David Gill said England should
have “great confidence” in bidding for the 2030 tournament, having lost
out to Russia for the right to host the 2018 tournament.
An SFA spokesman said in July it would be “open-minded”
about a joint bid while earlier this month, Northern Ireland manager
Michael O’Neill said hosting World Cup games at Windsor Park would
be “huge” for the country.
Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay have announced their plans
to jointly bid for 2030 while Tunisia would be open to the idea of a
North African bid along with Algeria and Morocco.
“The reality is for countries like Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, it’s
always going to be a case of having to do it in partnership with another,
and the logical partner for us would be England,” added Ford.
“You need a lot of stadia now; of course, the structure of the
competition has changed – you need 16 40,000-seater stadia.
“Of course, we have a fantastic stadium with the Principality Stadium
and we’d love to be there, but there’s a lot of discussions to be had.”
Asked whether the potential bid would include all four home
nations, Ford said: “All of the discussions are still being had, so there’s
a lot of wait and see,” the BBC Sport reported.
Source: Oman News Agency