Ukraine has joined Spain and Portugal in their bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
The partnership between the three nations was affirmed by leaders of the countries’ three soccer federations at UEFA headquarters Wednesday.
“This is the dream of millions of Ukrainian fans. The dream of people who survived the horrors of war or are still in the occupied territories, over which the Ukrainian flag will surely fly soon,” said Andriy Pavelko, president of Ukraine’s soccer federation, at a news conference Wednesday.
He said the move was authorized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine has been under full-scale attack by Russia since February.
Subtleties were not given on the number of games that would be held in Ukraine, or in which cities, however the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv hosted the finals of the 2012 European Championship and the 2018 Champions League.
“Now it’s not the Iberian bid, it’s the European bid,” Spain’s soccer federation president, Luis Rubiales, said at the news conference, according to the Associated Press. “Together we represent the power of transformation football has in society.”
Spain and Portugal previously declared their joint bid in June 2021. The new bid faces competition from a collaboration between Egypt, Greece and Saudi Arabia, and a South American bid between Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile.
FIFA will vote to pick the host in 2024.