by La Provence (with AFP)

The United Kingdom and Ireland will not be candidates to host the 2030 Football World Cup and will focus on a joint campaign to host Euro-2028, their respective federations announced on Monday.

The FA of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have concluded that the European Championship is a better option than the World Cup, after conducting a British government-funded feasibility study. ,Overall, the five federations decided to focus on only one official bid to host Euro-2028 and not to bid for the 2030 World Cup.“, he said in a statement. “Hosting the Euro offers a similar return on investment, costs much less to host a European tournament and the benefits can be realized soon.,

The bid for the 2030 World Cup was criticized in Britain, after England’s solo efforts to stage the 2006 and 2018 editions failed.

England hosted Euro-1996 on their soil and the cities of Glasgow, London and Dublin each hosted matches for the 2020 edition, which was held across Europe and in 2021 including the semi-finals and final due to the Covid-19 Due to was rescheduled. Wembley.

Supporters’ enthusiasm during the Italy–England final on 11 July did not prevent UEFA from organizing a major event at the London site: the opening match.finalissima“The match between European champion Italy and South American champion Argentina was scheduled there in June.

Candidates for the organization of Euro-2028 must confirm their interest before 23 March, applications will be announced on 5 April. The host country(s) for the tournament is to be nominated by UEFA in September 2023.

The process, initiated by the European body, headwinds against the project of holding the World Cup every two years, therefore does not take into account a possible overhaul of the international calendar after 2024 and assumes that the world will not be captured in the summer of 2028. Cup, while FIFA is planning to move its World Cup to a biennial rhythm at this time frame.