LONDON: UK government support for a World Cup hosting bid for 2030 has been offered by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The four British home associations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have been studying the prospects for a joint hosting with the Republic of Ireland for the past 18 months.

Now the UK government is reportedly ready to invest £2.8m in the project.

Johnson xaid: “”We are very, very keen to bring football home in 2030. I think it’s the right place. It’s the home of football, it’s the right time. It will be an absolutely wonderful thing for the country. We want to see a bonanza of football in the years ahead.”

A joint-statement from the football associations of England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland read: “The football associations and government partners of the UK and Ireland are delighted that the UK government has committed to support a prospective five-association bid for the 2030 Fifa World Cup.

“The FAs will continue to undertake feasibility work to assess the viability of a bid before FIFA formally opens the process in 2022. Staging a Fifa World Cup would provide an incredible opportunity to deliver tangible benefits for our nations.

“If a decision is made to bid for the event, we look forward to presenting our hosting proposals to FIFA and the wider global football community.”

The possibility of various other European bids has been raised, one from Spain and Portugal and another from a consortium of Balkan nations.

However the strongest rival would be a long-envisioned bid from Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay. The quartet believe that their bid would be appropriate 100 years after the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay in 1930.

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