“The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) have incorporated the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) into the Iberian Bid to organize the 2030 World Cup”affirmed the RFEF in a statement.
“Now it is no longer the Iberian candidacy, it is the European candidacy”said this Wednesday the president of the RFEF, Luis Rubialeswho announced the decision together with his counterparts from Portugal, Fernando Gomezand from Ukraine, Andri Pavelkoat a press conference at the UEFA headquarters in the Swiss town of Nyon.
“It may have surprised some, but for us it was a logical and natural decision”affirmed for his part Gomes in the appearance before the media.
“We all hope that in 2030 the war will be over”affirmed the president of the FPF for which, even when hostilities end, “Ukraine will need our help and we will be there”.
“Helping Ukrainians means integrating them into projects of this dimension, giving them hope for the future”insisted Gomes, for whom “this is clearly a winning bid to organize the 2030 World Cup.”
In the World Cup that will commemorate the centenary of the world’s greatest football tournament, created in 1930 in Uruguay, the three countries want to “symbolize the unity of Europe,” said Pavelko.
“Football is an important social phenomenon that supports Ukrainians in these difficult times”added the president of the Ukrainian federation, for whom “the war will end and we will organize World Cup 2030 matches with Spain and Portugal at the highest level.”
Details on how Ukraine will be integrated into the Iberian bid will be revealed in the future, the organizers said.
“The institutional headquarters is Madrid, the administrative headquarters will continue to be Lisbon, and now the Ukrainian federation will start working with us”advanced Rubiales.
“We are at a very early stage in which we wanted to make this European candidacy known to the world”specified the president of the RFEF.
However, “the Ukrainian arrival does not alter the established roadmap: Spain maintains its eleven venues and Portugal will continue with three,” the RFEF specified in its statement.
The inclusion of Ukraine has received the support of the governments of Spain and Portugal, as well as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Spain and Portugal formalized their joint candidacy to organize the 2030 World Cup on June 5, 2021 before a friendly match between both teams at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid.
Present at that event were the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, and his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, as a sign of government support for the initiative, as well as the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the King of Spain, Felipe VI.
“We have already demonstrated our ability to organize top-level events. Spain and Portugal are ready to host, together with Ukraine, the World Cup in 2030”Pedro Sánchez wrote this Wednesday on his official Twitter account.
Portugal already organized the 2004 European Championship, while Spain was the venue for the 1964 European Championship and the 1982 World Cup, and Ukraine for the 2012 European Championship together with Poland.
The Iberian candidacy competes for the organization of the World Cup with the one presented in August by Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, who hope to host the World Cup event as they have the place where this competition was born.
The idea of a World Cup “was thought, analyzed and launched here in Uruguay almost 100 years ago” and “became the greatest celebration of world sport,” said the president of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF). Ignatius Alonso.
Therefore, “it is fair to organize the 2030 world championship in the place where it all began, where the guts, courage, intelligence and effort were” to achieve it, he added.
The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) preferred not to comment on Ukraine’s accession to the Spanish-Portuguese candidacy.
“The Conmebol postulates Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to organize the 2030 World Cup and has no opinion on the application of other confederations, which have every right to do so,” said a source from the entity before a query from the AFP.
On the other hand, Greece, Egypt and Saudi Arabia would also be in negotiations to promote another three-man bid for the 2030 World Cup.
The organizers of the 2030 World Cup will be announced at the 74th FIFA Congress in 2024.
Source: Ambito
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