Egypt plans to bid for 2030 World Cup, 2032 Olympics

Article posted by Coliseum, August 8^th, 2018

Image: AS&P

Even as the dust settles from the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ in Russia and focus shifts to the 2022 tournament in Qatar, media in Egypt is abuzz with reports that Cairo is planning to bid for the 2030 edition of the biggest football event as well as Olympics 2032.

“Our goal is to host the 2030 World Cup in Egypt and we will work on that in the upcoming period,” Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhy was quoted in Egyptian media reports. “We also want to win the hosting rights for the 2032 Olympic Games.”

The move is seen as the Ministry of Sports’ plan to upgrade the level of Egyptian sport in the coming period, Egyptian Streets reported.

Egypt’s decision came just a month after fellow African country Morocco was defeated in its bid to host the 2026 World Cup, the rights for which went to the UnitedBid from the US, Canada and Mexico.

The Egyptian football federation had voted for the Moroccan bid at the FIFA Congress in Moscow.

Egypt’s bid would be the fourth for the 2030 World Cup, that has already attracted three other bids: a joint bid from Uruguay and Argentina, England and another joint bid from Morocco and Tunisia.

South Africa in 2010 became first African country to host the FIFA World Cup™ after it defeated bids from Egypt and Morocco to secure hosting rights.

As far as the bid for Olympics is concerned, Egypt would look to become the first African nation to host the event if it succeeds in its bid for the 2032 Games.

The South African city of Durban had considered bids for the 2024 and 2028 Games before landing the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

But Durban, in 2017, was stripped of the Commonwealth Games after the South African government failed to supply the necessary financial guarantees.

For Egypt, the 2030 World Cup may be a more achievable ambition, aroundtherings.com website speculated. However, a vote for the 2030 host is unlikely to take place until after the first World Cup in the Middle East (Qatar 2022), it said.

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