Greece joint bid for 2030 FIFA World Cup supposedly dropped

Saudi Arabia looked to jointly host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Greece and Egypt, but hesitation from the two sees this venture unlikely to progress

Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, playing the role of the High Priestess, lights the torch during the lighting of the Olympic flame at Ancient Olympia site, birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southwestern Greece, Photo:AAP/Thanassis Stavrakis

23 June 2023 11:25am

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The proposed joint bid by Greece, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup has supposedly been withdrawn.

Had it been successful, this would have been the first World Cup to be hosted on three different continents, Europe, Africa and Asia, and the first on more than one.

The idea was drawn by Saudi Arabia but was never officially announced.

Both Egypt and Greece never came forward to declare the bid, with many tying it to economic and political issues.

In April, Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhy stated that they do not intend to submit a bid for the 2023 World Cup.

Last year, Politico reported that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis faced criticism from the opposition after a rumoured deal involving Saudi Arabia financing new infrastructure in Greece for the cup.

Many also expressed concern with Greece hosting a large sporting event, especially after the 2004 Summer Olympics, which saw many abandoned venues, and was partially blamed for the country’s debt crisis.

There was also criticism on Greece showing disregard to human rights abuse in the other two nations.

This isn’t the first joint bid to be abandoned or potentially withdrawn by Greece, with the country’s first bid alongside Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia falling through.

Now the question remains on where the World Cup will be played in 2030? The only confirmed bids as of this writing are to quadruples, one in South America in the nations Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile, and the other in Europe with Spain, Portugal, Ukraine and Morocco.