‘FIFA show must return to its roots Uruguay’

Article posted by Coliseum, August 9^th, 2022

Image: Marcelo Campi

On August 2^nd, the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) held a presser at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo (Uruguay) in the context of the football body bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup™.

In fact, it is a joint South American bid to host the FIFA extravaganza with Argentina, Paraguay and Chile joining Uruguay in throwing their hat into the World Cup ring.

The 2030 FIFA World Cup™ will be the 24^th FIFA World Cup™, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men’s national teams of the member- associations of FIFA. The event will mark the centennial of the first World Cup.

The Estadio Centenario is a stadium in the Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay, used primarily for football. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup™, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Uruguay’s first Constitution.

‘AUF’ stated that the conference was attended by the President of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), Alejandro Domínguez, Ignacio Alonso, President of the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), along with his peers from the Paraguayan Football Association, Robert Harrison, the Chilean Football Federation, Pablo Milad, and the Vice-President of the Argentine Football Association (Rodolfo D’Onofrio), as well as the Sports Ministers of each country involved: Sebastián Bauzá (Uruguay), Diego Galeano (Paraguay), Alexandra Benado (Chile), and Matías Lammens (Argentina).

‘AUF’ further stated that the members of the Executive Committee (Gastón Tealdi, Eduardo Ache, Fernando Sosa, Matías Pérez, and Andrea Lanfranco) and the Executive Director (Victoria Díaz) were also present on behalf of the AUF.

The event began with a breakfast session on the upper floor of the Football Museum. Subsequently, everybody moved to the session room bedecked with the antique furniture of the Uruguayan Football Association.

The meeting was presided over by Domínguez in which the presidents of all the federations spoke. The President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, who attended the event, expressed his happiness on Uruguay’s bid to hold the soccer show.

Exulted Alonso, “We want to declare to the world that we are eager to hold the 2030 World Cup. It is in Uruguay that the first World Cup was held in the year 1930 and most of the games were held at the Estadio Centenario.”

Added Domínguez, “Hosting the 2030 World Cup is the shared dream of the above four nations. It will be a fitting tribute by FIFA if Uruguay is allowed to host the FIFA showcase 100 years later as 100 years back it is in Uruguay that the first FIFA World Cup™ was held. The Estadio Centenario was just built in nine months to hold the soccer extraordinaire.”

Alonso stated that football will “return to its roots” if Uruguay is given the chance to host the World Cup.

World Cup Venues

‘El Observador’ stated that Uruguay will spearhead the joint bid and a joint presentation will be made by the four South American nations – Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina – in 2023.

The Sports Secretary of Uruguay, Sebastián Bauzá, informed that 14 venues in the four countries combine will be offered as Host Venues for the soccer spectacle.

‘El Observador’ further stated that two stadia in Uruguay will serve as the Host Venues with one being the Estadio Centenario where the final will be played. In Paraguay, too, two venues will serve as the Host Venues, and Argentina and Chile stadia will stage the rest of the fixtures with more facilities in Argentina hosting the matches than Chile.

Bauzá further informed that there is a possibility that the 40,000-capacity Stadium 974 in Doha made with containers for Qatar 2022 which will be dismantled once the soccer show is over, will be sent to Uruguay.

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