Has Wembley chaos wrecked Britain and Ireland’s 2030 World Cup bid?

It was not just England’s dreams of winning Euro 2020 that were crushed on Sunday - but also the possible British and Irish joint bid to host the Fifa World Cup in 2030.

Even before Wembley was stormed by hundreds of ticketless fans “the approach to the stadium resembled a war zone”, The Guardian said. An Italian fan described walking along Wembley Way as “one of the worst experiences of the night” and it “looked like a battleground: trash everywhere, trees being pulled and England fans forcing their way up stairs to the stadium and causing crushes”.

Inside the ground one supporter said the scenes were “absolute bedlam” while another said it the “worst football match I have ever experienced”.

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Sunday’s final was the biggest sporting event to be held in England since the 1966 World Cup and seen by many as an “audition” for the 2030 World Cup. An audition that Britain failed, said the London Evening Standard.

Earlier this month, Boris Johnson met with Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and “lobbied for a joint British and Irish bid” to host the 2030 World Cup, The Times reported.

Proving that England could host a major tournament was “the only thing Johnson wanted to do” on Sunday, said The Times’s Patrick Maguire. “It is hard to argue that he did. Or, really, that we deserve it.”

‘Very good case’

Questions have been raised about the policing of the Euro 2020 final and there are new fears that the hooliganism seen at Wembley could ruin the joint bid, ITV reports. But in his briefing on Monday evening Johnson insisted that Britain and Ireland still have a “very good case” to host the 2030 spectacle. This is despite the “scenes of mayhem”, Politico says.

Johnson feels it was “a shame a small minority tried to spoil it or behaved badly but I don’t think it damaged the atmosphere, certainly not in the stadium itself”.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay told LBC’s Nick Ferrari today that the ugly scenes at Wembley won’t affect the World Cup bid. “I think the strength of a bid is there and one shouldn’t overplay an individual incident, albeit a serious one, that we need to ensure we learn from,” he said.

‘Complete and utter disrepute’

While the UK government remains confident of the joint bid, a senior figure at one of the England Football Association’s bid partners told The Telegraph that the “chaos” outside the stadium “can’t help things”.

Meanwhile, Jim Boyce, Northern Ireland’s former Fifa vice-president, said the “disgraceful scenes” had once again brought English football into “complete and utter disrepute”. He added: “It would be wonderful to see a World Cup back again in the United Kingdom and, certainly, the events of Sunday night do not enhance the prospects of it happening.”

Rival candidacies

In March, Johnson said he was “very, very keen to bring football home in 2030”. And a joint Britain-Ireland bid “is considered more likely to succeed” than a solo attempt by England, The Times notes.

Murmurs of the plan have been circulating since 2018, and the following year a feasibility study concluded with “a sense that the right thing to do is go forward” with the idea, said Noel Mooney, then general manager of the Football Association of Ireland.

The greatest challenge to Britain-Ireland in Europe is likely to be from Spain and Portugal. At the start of June, and before Euro 2020 got under way, the two countries announced that they would also be making a joint bid for the 2030 tournament, with both teams’ players wearing shirts that said “Vamos 2030”.

Cerefin is said to want “a single European candidate” put forward for the bid in order to avoid splitting the final vote, The Times says.

“The prospect of a strong counterbid from China appears to be receding,” the newspaper continues. But the New Statesman says “sentimental money” will be on Uruguay’s plans to launch a joint bid with Argentina, Paraguay and Chile. The 2030 World Cup will mark the tournament’s 100th anniversary, which was first held in Uruguay.

Fifa is expected to announce the 2030 host in 2024. Next year’s World Cup will take place in Qatar and the 2026 tournament will be hosted jointly by Canada, Mexico and the USA.