European football 'geopolitics' KO'd UK and Ireland 2030 World Cup bid

European football associations told UEFA they would not support a UK and Ireland bid to host World Cup 2030 ahead of a joint application from Spain and Portugal, it has emerged.

Former FA commercial director Jonathan Hill, who is now CEO of the Football Association of Ireland, said on Tuesday that ‘geopolitics’ across European football was the key reason why the World Cup bid was dropped by the UK and Ireland associations on Monday in favour of a bid for Euro 2028.

His comments came 24 hours after English FA chief executive Mark Bullingham insisted that UEFA had not ‘expressed their interest or support for any potential World Cup bid’.

However, his Irish counterpart has now indicated that there was resistance from UEFA affiliates towards a home nations bid for the World Cup in eight years time.

Sportsmail revealed in October that UEFA wanted the UK and Ireland to withdraw from the process and would award the home countries the Euros instead as Spain and Portugal emerged as European football governing body’s preferred option for the 2030.

And Hill said: ‘It wasn’t actually UEFA’s position, it would have been the UEFA federations who would have opined on that.

‘By the way, I don’t disagree with you in relation to what you’re saying (that Uefa preferred the Spain-Portugal option).’

While the issue might seem insignificant, UEFA sources previously expressed concern that a World Cup bid which was being led by the FA was doomed to fail at European and global level.

‘I genuinely believe that Euro 2028 is far more winnable than World Cup would have been, particularly in relation to everything that has happened in relation to football geopolitics in the last six months,’ added Hill.