Politics and potential costs will impact a Home Nations bid for the 2030 World Cup.GETTY IMAGES
It is "not the stadia, the infrastructures, the potential ticket sales and commercial benefits" which will preclude the FAs of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from "making a joint bid for the 2030 World Cup Finals," according to Colin Young of the IRISH INDEPENDENT. It is "the politics" and the "potential cost." Once "stung, badly," by its treatment at the hands of FIFA's "corrupt" execs eight years ago, when it threw £21M at a failed bid for the 2018 World Cup, the FA is "considering whether to go into battle" with the rest of the U.K. and Ireland for the 2030 World Cup. Emboldened by the "three-way success" of the U.S., Mexico and Canada in securing the 2026 World Cup earlier this year, the four Home Nations "met for exploratory talks last month." Although they will "surely have to overcome the notion of five host countries from UEFA," their potential bid "already has the backing" of UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin. UEFA faces competition from CONMEBOL and the Confederation of African Football. The stadia are in place for the Home Nations. When England launched its bid for the 2018 World Cup in '10, it narrowed the host stadiums down to 15 in 12 cities -- Wembley, London Stadium, Emirates, Old Trafford, Anfield, Etihad, St. James' Park, Stadium of Light, City Ground, Villa Park, Hillsborough, Elland Road and the Bristol City, Plymouth and MK Dons stadia. Only seven of those grounds hold more than 50,000, "but the Welsh add the Millennium Stadium," Scotland has Hampden, Parkhead and Ibrox, plus Murrayfield, while the Aviva and possibly Croke Park "can now be added to an impressive list." The original English bid "included proposals to build new grounds in Nottingham and Bristol and expansion to most of the existing, older ones." FIFA likes "ready-made, modern infrastructures and the majority of the established grounds have everything in place to cope with top-level football's stringent demands" (IRISH INDEPENDENT, 9/23).
