'Argentina, Uruguay expect to host 2030 World Cup'

Buenos Aires, July 5 (IANS)

The FIFA World Cup trophy.

Argentine Football Association (AFA) president Julio Grondona has confirmed that FIFA “aims to celebrate one hundred years of the World Cup” in Argentina and Uruguay in 2030.

“FIFA aims to celebrate the 100th anniversary of World Cups. This will be in Argentina and Uruguay. We will see, but I think it will be something of importance, for sure. Both institutions have signed,” Grondona told a local radio station Thursday, reports Xinhua.

The initiative has been approved by the presidents of both countries, Cristina Fernandez (Argentina) and Jose Mujica (Uruguay), who in August 2012 inked the Constitutive Act of the Bi-national Commission for the Candidature to joint organise the 2030 World Cup.

The FIFA World Cup‘s first edition was held in 1930 in Montevideo, when Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay were also champions in 1950, when they defeated Brazil in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium.

Argentina won the world championship in 1978 when they hosted the tournament and defeated the Netherlands, as well as in 1986 in Mexico against Germany.

In August 2012, Argentina and Uruguay formally presented their candidature to FIFA’s president Joseph Blatter, while months before the South American countries had also supported the initiative led by AFA and the Uruguayan Football Association (UFA).

South America has hosted four World Cups, including Uruguay 1930, Brazil 1950, Chile 1962 and Argentina 1978. In 2014, Brazil will host it for the second time.