President Sebastian Pinera , through his Twitter account, announced Chile’s commitment to joining the bid originally formulated by the Uruguayan federation in its ambition to welcome the finals back exactly 100 years after it staged the inaugural tournament.

Pinera stated. ” The Presidents of the Argentinian Republic, Mauricio Macri; of the Republic of Chile, Sebastián Piñera; from the Republic of Paraguay, Mario Abdo; and of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez; have agreed to present their joint candidacy to organize the 2030 World Cup. ”

Piñera added: “The Presidents, through the four respective football associations (AFA, ANFP, AFP and AUF), have decided to bring before FIFA, after communicating this to CONMEBOL, a shared position to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup, organised by Uruguay in 1930.”

The development was endorsed by Harold Mayne-Nicholls, FIFA 2018/2022 World Cup technical inspector who is a former president of the Chilean federation.

He said, via Twitter: “As a country we are absolutely prepared. I have no doubt about it.”

Other contenders have already thrown their hats into a preliminary ring.

Morocco, which has made five unsuccessful bids to host the tournament including 2026, has said it would try again for 2030. Joint bids with Algeria and Tunisia or with Spain and Portugal have been discussed though an African/European mix appears highly unlikely.

Last November political leaders of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Serbia agreed to consider bidding though the likelihood is that the real target is the finals tournament of the European Championship in 2028.

Early notional favourite is a cohosting bid being studied by the four home countries and the Republic of Ireland.

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