MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina and Uruguay will bid to jointly host 2030 World Cup

Vazquez and Macri making the announcement in Colonia

Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez and Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri agreed on Thursday that their countries will present a joint bid to host the World Cup in 2030, a century after Uruguay was the site of the first tournament.

 “In the 30th year of this century it will be 100 years since that first so important event that is the World Cup of soccer and we have decided that there is no better opportunity than to commit ourselves today to put forward a joint candidacy to be the venue of that World Cup,” Macri said after meeting with Vazquez.

The two men announced the initiative after talks at the Uruguayan presidential retreat in Anchorena.

Acknowledging that the tourney is “many years” away, Macri said it was not too soon to start planning.

Vazquez reminded reporters that both he and Macri have strong ties to soccer. As club president, the Uruguayan leader steered the Progreso club from the third division to the first division title in 1989.

Macri, meanwhile, used his successful run as president of Boca Juniors, Argentina’s most popular team, as a springboard to get into politics.

The first world cup was played in Montevideo, for which Uruguay built in a record time a concrete stadium seating 40.000 people in nine-months. The final match was between Argentina and Uruguay, with the hosts taking the first world cup after defeating their neighbors and ever since rivals, 4 -2 .