This Wednesday, at the UEFA headquarters in Switzerland, the joint candidacy of Portugal, Spain and Ukraine for the 2030 World Cup was formalized. than football, and it would not be necessary to invoke any other reason to justify what today brings us here. of improvement, commitment, resilience and inspiration”, began Fernando Gomes.
The president of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) recalled that after the invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, Portugal received “thousands of exiles”, “separated families” and “people shattered by pain, anguish and uncertainty”. . “We open the doors of the city of football to some of these families, we are and continue to be witnesses of their suffering (…)”, he recalls, also recalling, with pride, the solidarity of the clubs.
Saying that “all of Europe responded with a single voice”, Fernando Gomes acknowledges that “we have done a lot”, but “we must continue to do so”. “The awareness of the reality that Ukraine continues to live forces us to do it. That was the reason that led Portugal and Spain to include Ukraine in the candidacy for the 2030 World Cup,” he justified, admitting that it may be an “unexpected” event. . ” decision. for some. But for both countries, Portugal and Spain, this was a “logical and natural” decision.
“Certainly, there will be many people who will think that the easiest thing for Portugal and Spain would be to continue with this candidacy as it was, regardless of what is happening in Ukraine. Allow me to disagree. I think that would be the most difficult and incomprehensible thing. Ukraine cannot disappear from our memory after the war is over. When that day comes, I am sure that he will continue to need help and we want it and we will be there”, underlined Fernando Gomes, highlighting the help provided by Portuguese football.
The proposal was presented in June 2021 and received the support of UEFA, facing the competition of at least one South American project (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay), an African project (Morocco) and an intercontinental project (Saudi Arabia). , Egypt and Greece). ).
“We have done a lot, but we have to keep doing it. Awareness of the reality of what is still happening in Ukraine compels us to do so. Helping Ukrainians means integrating them into projects of this scale and giving them hope for the future. Of the few certainties, there is something we know: football has a unique mobilizing force that cannot be missed.
The coordinating committee of Mundial2030, headed by António Laranjo, will now include representatives of the Ukrainian delegation, headed by the president of the UAF, Andrii Pavelko, whose membership will have its terms “discussed and defined in due course”.
“I am proud to have been part of the football family for many years and I am sure you will support this initiative. May this, therefore, be the beginning of the path that will lead us to a World Cup that reaffirms the values of the human person, freedom and equality between large and small nations. May it be the World Cup that reaffirms the values of tolerance and peace enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations”, concluded Fernando Gomes.
Qatar will host this year the 22nd edition of the World Cup, from November 20 to December 18, followed by an unprecedented co-organization between three countries (Canada, the United States and Mexico) in 2026, and the celebration of the centenary of the event in 2030.
The election of the organizing countries of the 2030 World Cup is scheduled for the 74th FIFA Congress, in 2024, after Portugal hosted the Euro 2004 and Spain the Euro 1964 and the World Cup of 1982, while Ukraine hosted Euro 2012, along with Poland.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.4 million to European countries-, according to the UN, which sees in this refugee crisis the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
Justified by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, the invasion of that nation has been condemned by the generality of the international community, which responds by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing to Russia from the political point of view and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war in Eastern Europe 5,996 dead and 8,848 civilians wounded, highlighting that these figures are far below the real ones.
The main soccer championship has been taking place since August within the Ukrainian borders, but with games behind closed doors and in the vicinity of air-raid shelters, while the national team plays as a visitor in neighboring Poland.
Source: TSF
