MONTEVIDEO: Argentina and Uruguay want to reactivate their original proposal to host the centenary World Cup finals in 2030 writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

The inaugural tournament was staged in Uruguay in 1930 with the hosts defeating their southern neighbours 4-2 in the final. Uruguay is now far too small to host the finals and can only hope to do via co-hosting.

Argentina’s new President Mauricio Macri and his Uruguayan counterpart Tabaré Vázquez announced a bidding intention on Uruguayan television after their first formal meeting since Macri’s election at the end of last year.

Macri has a football track record as a former president of Argentina’s Boca Juniors. He said: “We have decided that our best opportunity is to jointly nominate ourselves as candidates. These things need to be planned a long way in advance.”

Uruguay has always had an eye on 2030 and an informal agreement to bid was reached three years ago. In November 2014, the AFA said that a lack of support from the government of Cristina Kirchner Fernandez meant the idea had been scrapped.

Now that Kirchner has been succeeded by Macri, the idea is back on the table.

Argentina won the World Cup as hosts in 1978 and then again in Mexico in 1986. Uruguay, after winning the tournament in 1930, triumphed again in 1950 in Brazil.

The 2018 finals will be in Russia and 2022 in Qatar. Bidding for 2026 had been due to start last summer but the process was put on hold after the corruption explosion around world governing body FIFA.

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