FOOTBALL: The 2030 World Cup could be held Ukraine after Spain and Portugal bid to associate with the war-torn country

Ukraine could host the World Cup in 2030 after Spain and Por­tu­gal added war-torn Ukraine to their bids.

Coun­tries on the Iber­ian Penin­su­la were already plan­ning to bid to host the Games.

But as a class ges­ture and act of Euro­pean sol­i­dar­i­ty, they decid­ed to add Ukraine to increase their chances of success.

Ukraine is now under ille­gal Russ­ian aggres­sion. Because on Feb­ru­ary 24, Vladimir Putin sent troops into his neigh­bor, spread­ing death and devastation.

It is hoped that the war will end soon so that Ukraine can host World Cup matches.

UEFA pres­i­dent Alexan­der Ceferin is deter­mined to bring the com­pe­ti­tion back to Europe and appears to be in full sup­port of the proposal.

Ukrain­ian leader Volodymyr Zelen­sky is also an avid sup­port­er of the bid.

The pres­i­dents of the Span­ish and Por­tuguese fed­er­a­tions, Luis Rubiales and Fer­nan­do Gómez, con­firmed the plan today at UEFA head­quar­ters in Switzer­land, togeth­er with Ukraine’s Andriy Pavelko.

“Our bid is no longer an Iber­ian bid, but a Euro­pean one,” Rubiales said.

I’m sure you got a much bet­ter bid than before.

“Foot­ball is uni­ver­sal and if it can make a dif­fer­ence in peo­ple’s lives, it must also help them do good,” he said.

Por­tu­gal coach Gómez has insist­ed that details about Ukraine’s par­tic­i­pa­tion in the cal­en­dar will be decid­ed in the com­ing months.

One group of 48 teams will be based in Ukraine, and oper­at­ing two sta­di­ums is also an option.

The rest of the match­es were sched­uled to take place in Spain and Por­tu­gal, with all knock­out stage match­es also sched­uled to take place at Real Madrid’s ren­o­vat­ed Bernabéu.

“I am con­fi­dent that in 2030 there will be peace in Europe and Ukraine will be able to host the Games in the best pos­si­ble way,” said Gomez.

UEFA is keen to bring the World Cup back to Europe in 2030 after con­tro­ver­sial award­ing to Qatar and sub­se­quent co-host­ing by the Unit­ed States, Cana­da and Mexico.

How­ev­er, Spain, Por­tu­gal and Ukraine will face bids from three con­ti­nents: Sau­di Ara­bia, Egypt and Greece, backed by FIFA chief Giani Infantino.

In addi­tion to Sau­di Ara­bi­a’s bid, four South Amer­i­can coun­tries have already been select­ed to host match­es in Argenti­na, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

If the bid is suc­cess­ful, the final will be played at the Cen­te­nario sta­di­um in Mon­te­v­ideo, where the first World Cup final was played in 1930.

But Ceferin said in Sep­tem­ber that he believed the Iber­ian penin­su­la’s bid was the best, even before Ukraine’s acces­sion was delayed.

He said, “I look at the win­ning bid. I’ll do what I can for the bid.”

“It’s time for Europe to host the World Cup”. Spain and Por­tu­gal are both pas­sion­ate about foot­ball and you can smell it. The infra­struc­ture is great and we have some plans as well.

“I have already spo­ken to Fer­nan­do Gomez and Luis Rubiales. I believe and am con­vinced that the 2030 World Cup will be held in Spain and Portugal.