British and Irish ditch cup for Euros
THE British and Republic of Ireland FAs have pulled out of the race to host the 2030 World Cup despite the Government having spent £2.8million on the project.
Instead, the five associations want to focus on a joint bid to host Euro 2028, with games played in each country and the final almost certain to be at Wembley.
With UEFA appearing to be behind Spain and Portugal’s interest in co-hosting the 2030 World Cup, the British bid always looked weak and was described as a “giant, expensive vanity project” by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee chair Julian Knight MP.
He said: “It’s unacceptable that £2.8m in taxpayer money was wasted on a pipe dream that was clearly doomed from the start.
“Football in the UK needs to sort out its reputation at home before we can go after the biggest tournament.”
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has given the FA assurances the appalling scenes in and around the Euro 2020 final last summer would not count against England in future bids.
By involving the other associations, it makes it easier politically for the British Government to invest, but raises the issue of having five hosts all wanting automatic qualification for an event that would almost certainly be expanded to 32 teams.
Northern Ireland have a further issue in that none of their stadiums meet the minimum requirements for hosting a European Championship finals fixture. But a statement read: “It would be an honour to collectively host Euro 2028 and to welcome all of Europe.”
UEFA are due to decide by September 2023.