FAI IN ROME FOR TALKS ON JOINT BID
THE prospect of a joint British and Irish bid to co-host the 2030 World Cup finals will move a step closer in Rome this morning.
Officials from the five associations, including FAI chief executive John Delaney, will meet over breakfast to agree on plans to stage the tournament.
The English FA are the main drivers behind the proposal which involves Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
A decision on a formal bid launch is not expected before spring 2020 ‘at the earliest’, but there is an eagerness among the five associations to press ahead.
That will only happen once there are no rival bids from Europe.
Spain and Portugal recently invited Morocco to consider a three-way submission, which would garner African support.
Elsewhere, Uruguay, who hosted the inaugural finals in 1930, are preparing a joint bid along with neighbours Argentina to bring the finals to South America.
But UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, re-elected unopposed to a four-year term in Rome yesterday, is adamant the 2030 World Cup will return to Europe.
The final details of the British and Irish bid have to be ironed out, but it is understood that it will not be London-centric.
As it stands, nether Old Trafford or Anfield meets the stringent FIFA requirements for run-off space for photographers.
Also, there is currently no suitable stadium in Belfast, unlike Glasgow, Cardiff and Dublin.
If the bid becomes successful, the horse-trading would begin with FIFA over the number of automatic qualification places reserved for hosts — there is no possibility that all five nations would receive a free pass each.
‘Let’s put the bid together first, get the backing of UEFA, and go to FIFA with it. If it wins, we can worry about who qualifies directly or not,’ a senior bid source told Sportsmail.
The UEFA executive committee yesterday increased the number of participants in the European U21 Championship 2019-21 — which will take place in Hungary and Slovenia in June 2021 — from 12 to 16.
This change of format will improve the chances of qualification for Stephen Kenny and his team.
Also, it will pave the way for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to qualify automatically as cohosts for the finals in the summer of 2023.
Meanwhile, English FA chairman Greg Clarke won his bid to become a FIFA vice-president, easily warding off IFA president David Martin, 37 votes to 18.