Vucic: Balkan countries to jointly bid for 2030 World Cup

Reuters/Maxim Shemetov

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters on Friday that Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece had plans for a joint bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

Speaking to the media after a quadrilateral meeting in the Bulgarian city of Varna on Friday, Vucic said that the idea came from Greek Prime Mister Alexis Tsipras, and was agreed with the Prime Ministers of Bulgaria and Romania, Boyko Borisov and Viorica Dancila. The four countries also plan to bid for the 2028 European Championship, Vucic added.  

He told the joint news conference that dialogue has to continue in the region to avoid incidents and maintain stability.

“We are grateful to these countries for the support they have shown for Serbia on its path to the European Union. I told them that dialogues need to be continued with the conviction that we will manage to avoid incidents and maintain the stability which we all need,” Vucic said.

Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania are all members of the European Union, while Serbia is a candidate country in membership negotiations since January 2014, with Brussels saying the country might join the bloc by 2025.

Officially filed bids to host the 2030 World Cup so far include a joint Uruguay-Argentina-Paraguay bid, and another one by Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.

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