MINISTERS have pledged £2.8 million in today’s Budget towards a bid for Britain to host the World Cup in 2030.
There will also be £25million in new funding from the Treasury to help the grassroots game grow – enough to build 700 new pitches.
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That will helps towards the government’s plans to get Britain match fit for the future.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak told MPs at the Budget today he was “backing the UK and Ireland’s joint 2030 World Cup bid.”
Boris Johnson insisted in an interview with The Sun earlier this week: “One of the things we want to do is we want to bounce back fitter.
“We want to bounce back better, but also we want to do much more to encourage sport in this country post pandemic.”
And Mr Sunak will earmark a further £1.2million of new funding so that the Women’s European Championships goes ahead in England in July 2022.
It came after the PM offered up Britain’s stadiums for the whole European Championships later this year – as the UK’s vaccine roll-out surges ahead of the continent.
And World Cup 1966 hero Sir Geoff Hurst backed the PM saying staging this summer’s European championships here would bring joy to the country’s pandemic-hit footie fans.
The England hat-trick legend backed Boris’s offer to host the entire tournament, due to be held across 12 countries.
He told The Sun: “I know a thing or two about the joy having a summer tournament on home soil can bring.
“Winning the World Cup as the home nation — I enjoy it daily. So let’s recapture that spirit of ’66 — we could all do with that now.”
The football tournament’s semi-finals and final are already pencilled in for Wembley in July but temporary teetotaller Mr Johnson said earlier this week: “Any other matches they want hosted, we are certainly on for that!”
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, the Prime Minister said: “We are very, very keen to bring football home in 2030. I do think it’s the right place.
“It’s the home of football, it’s the right time. It will be an absolutely wonderful thing for the country.”
Mr Johnson hopes the image of plucky Brexit Britain, fresh from its vaccine success, hosting the European tournament this summer would be a great advert for the UK’s 2030 bid.
And he hopes it will encourage us all to play more sport so the country can “build back fitter” from Covid.
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As well as pubs reopening in April, trials will begin into how best to get fans safely back into football grounds.
With all Covid restrictions scheduled to be lifted by mid June, it is hoped that — with vaccine passports and mass-testing — Wembley could be at 90,000-capacity by the July finals.
Ministers are in talks with UEFA amid fears the current plan to host the contest across 11 European cities will be sunk by soaring Covid cases across the Channel.
We are very, very keen to bring football home in 2030.
Boris Johnson
Mr Johnson said: “We are hosting the Euros. We are hosting the semis and the final.
“If there’s, you know, if they want any other matches that they want hosted, we’re certainly on for that but at the moment that’s where we are with UEFA.”
And a summer of football this year would showcase Britain as the perfect venue for the World Cup in nine years’ time.
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