UK Sport outlines ambitions and eyes up 2030 World Cup as ‘biggest target’

As well as football’s biggest event, the government’s elite sport agency would like to attract the starts of all three of cycling’s grand tours by 2025, stage a Ryder Cup in England and bid again for the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups.

Press Association Sport understands talks are already well advanced to host the starts of La Vuelta and the Tour de France in Yorkshire in 2022 and 2024, respectively, with Wales keen to stage the Giro d’Italia’s start in 2021.

Having failed with bids for the 2006 and 2018 World Cups, the Football Association is conducting a feasibility study about making a joint bid for 2030 with the three other home nations and Ireland.

The idea has been backed by Prime Minister Theresa May and the bid would be the centrepiece of a UK Sport strategy that could see up to 60 world and European-level events staged across the country over the next seven years, with more to come before and after 2030.

The agency, which is responsible for British elite sport’s lottery and public funding, spends four per cent of its budget on bringing major events to the UK, something it has done with considerable success in recent years.

The Tour de France, won four times by Chris Froome, may start in Britain in the not-too-distant future (John Walton/PA)

Having helped London win the right to stage the Olympic Games in 2012, UK Sport is now aiming for global sport’s other major mega-event and it believes a British bid will get a fairer crack of the whip this time.

Speaking to reporters in London, UK Sport chief operating officer Simon Morton said: “The biggest target on this list is the World Cup.

“If we bid for that, landing that event would be the crowning achievement, almost irrespective of everything else we’ve got.

“We have to recognise that the process (football’s world governing body) FIFA used for 2026 was significantly better.

“It was certainly a lot more transparent than previous processes. And you could argue it is now one of the best in world sport.

“But we all remember the 2018 bid. That is why I think it is right the FA is cautious and it is doing some feasibility work to make sure it is an appropriate one.”

France’s Paul Pogba celebrates with the World Cup won in Russia this summer (Owen Humphreys/PA)

The 2018 bid ended in ignominy for England: out in the first round with only two votes, and one of those was from the FA’s own representative on FIFA’s executive committee.

But that 2010 vote was significant for much more than England’s embarrassment, as Russia landed the 2018 tournament and Qatar stunned the world by winning the right to stage it in 2022.

The shock waves from those decisions, particularly the latter, ultimately brought the old regime at FIFA down and led to the much-changed process that saw a joint bid from Canada, Mexico and the United States beat Morocco for the 2026 World Cup at FIFA’s Congress this summer.

The fact that the much stronger bid on paper won has greatly encouraged the FA and UK Sport.

The FA will announce its decision on whether to lead a joint bid or not early next year. It has already said it would only do so if it felt it had a credible chance of success, which includes being the only bid from Europe, something that might not be the case if Spain decides to join forces with Morocco.

Morton said British bids for any event should never try to outspend rivals “with bottomless finances” but should campaign on the country’s track record of “passion, prestige, quality and innovation”.

FA chairman Greg Clarke announced the feasibility study in August (Tim Goode/PA)

With major events such as the Cricket World Cup, golf’s Solheim Cup and cycling’s Road World Championships already lined up for 2019, UK Sport’s 15-year wish list includes a total of 85 events across almost every Olympic and Paralympic sport.

Morton admitted that some of these bids will not come to fruition and others will be lost, with the likes of France, Russia and the US all in the market, but he said the British government is squarely behind the push to host as much sport here as possible, regardless of how Brexit plays out.

“We are entering a defining decade. How the world sees us has never been more important,” he said.

“The events on this list have the potential to attract 15 million spectators and economic benefits of £2billion and to make people happier.

“We are a sport-mad nation and even in the challenging times we need those really big moments when the country can come together. We need a global Britain.”