By Andrew Warshaw
June 1 – In his first public comment on the issue, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says the 2030 World Cup should go to Europe and that China should not be allowed to jump the queue and must abide by current regional hosting rules.
FIFA’s partial rotation regulations state that Continents which stage the World Cup are not permitted, barring exceptional circumstances, to bid for the subsequent two editions of the tournament.
That has ruled Europe out of going for 2026 because of Russia next year and Ceferin says the same should apply to those planning to launch a bid for 2030, the centenary World Cup.
Speculation is intensifying that China may try to land 2030 even though Qatar, from the same confederation (Asia), is hosting 2022. A more likely scenario is that China waits until 2034 and FIFA gives the green light for a joint South American bid to mark the tournament’s centenary.
But Ceferin said Europe was not prepared to get left behind.
“The regulations are clear. You cannot bid for the next two World Cups,” he said. “I think it’s Europe’s turn in 2030, clearly, so we will fight for a European host.”
Addressing UEFA’s uneasy relationship with the European Professional Football Leagues, which holds an extraordinary general meeting in Geneva next week, Ceferin said the festering dispute between the two sides was on the verge of being resolved.
The leagues want a voice on UEFA’s executive committee, just like the clubs have, and are also anxious to see proposed Champions League changes that come into effect next year modified in order to reduce the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
EPFL chairman Lars-Christer Olsson said this week that differences were close to being settled and Ceferin, speaking at a press conference following a UEFA executive committee in Cardiff, agreed.
“We’ve had at least three or four meetings with the EPFL in the past months and I can say we are very close to signing a new memorandum of understanding which includes them (being) on the executive committee,” he told reporters.
With holders Real Madrid playing Juventus in a top-draw Champions League final in the Welsh city on Saturday, Ceferin admitted that it was getting harder for less affluent clubs to qualify for the latter stages of the elite competition and challenge the usual suspects.
“We all know the gap is wider and wider and we are working on it every single day,” he said. “It’s our goal (to reduce the gap) because if we don’t, we cannot develop football in every single country.”
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