By David Gold
April 18 – Thailand Football Association President and FIFA Executive Committee member Worawi Makudi (pictured) believes that Southeast Asia could host the World Cup in 2030.
It has been mooted that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which consists of 10 members, could make a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
The issue was discussed at a summit in Lombok in Indonesia last January, where Malaysia was asked to formulate a proposal for discussion at the next ASEAN summit.
“This is just an idea now, and we’re just collecting feedback,” Worawi said.
“The process of bidding hasn’t even started…but I’m confident that in the next 20 years ASEAN will easily have the capability, in terms of infrastructure, to host the World Cup.”
“I have no doubt that there will be a lot of development in this region in the years ahead … but it is eventually up to FIFA to award [the hosting rights].”
Taking a World Cup to the region would fit with FIFA’s ethos of spreading the game to new areas and taking it to countries who have not hosted the tournament previously.
The Asian Football Confederation lent its weight to the fledgling ASEAN plan to host the 2030 event in a statement, saying that it “welcomes the initiative by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to consider hosting the 2030 World Cup in the region.”
The approval came after a delegation from ASEAN presented a World Cup bid proposal to the federation’s members.
But a logistical problem would need to be overcome because were all 10 countries to host the tournament, it seems improbable that they would all be allowed automatic qualification for the event, as is the case currently, as that would leave just 22 qualifying spots for other nations.
Smaller nations have been buoyed by the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, with Malta and Cyprus expressing interest in a joint bid for the 2026 tournament.
But the plans could also be scuppered by China, which has indicated that it may bid to host the 2026 World Cup, and should they be successful, it would make it less likely that the region would host two successive tournaments.
The Southeast Asian bid could also face competition from Uruguay and Argentina, who have expressed an interest in making a joint bid for the 2030 finals.
The 2030 tournament will mark 100 years since the first World Cup, held and won by Uruguay, and so this proposal could prove a strong contender should they decide to submit a formal bid.
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January 2011: Southeast Asia considering joint bid for 2030 World Cup