The Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday met with Giovanni Infantino, President of the International Football Association, FIFA, outside the FIFA World Cup 2022 opening ceremony in Qatar, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s joint hosting of the 2030 World Cup with Egypt and Greece.
Western media previously stated that a joint application for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Greece to host the 2030 World Cup is now being put together.
Ashraf Sobhy, the Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports, previously stated that Egypt was intent on hosting either the 2030 World Cup or a later edition of the competition. A formal choice has not yet been made on applications to host the 2030 World Cup.
However, Sobhy stated that an investigation is currently being conducted into the situation as part of efforts to jointly organise the tournament with other nations.
A combined bid by the football federations of Spain, Portugal, and Ukraine to host the 2030 event was made public.
In addition to the bids from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Greece, another Latin bid involving Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay is also planned.
Meanwhile, Enner Valencia scored a first-half double as Ecuador overwhelmed hosts Qatar on their way to a routine 2-0 win in the opening game of the 2022 mundial.
Valencia had an early header ruled out for a marginal offside call against teammate Michael Estrada, via a questionable VAR review, but he did not have to wait long to celebrate after winning and coolly converting a 16th-minute penalty.
