#INSERT type:image caption:Argentina says it will not bid for the centenary World Cup in 2030. END#
Argentina says it will not bid for the centenary World Cup in 2030, casting doubt over a rumoured joint-country bid from South America and leaving Chile or inaugural hosts Uruguay to contemplate a bid on their own, according a report.
"Argentina is not thinking about the 2030 World Cup. We haven't even considered it yet. If you asked me concretely, Argentina will not bid to organise that World Cup," Argentina Football Association vice president Miguel Angel Silva told Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
Silva's statement came as a shock to both Argentine and Chilean media this week because former AFA president Julio Grondona, who died this past summer at age 82, had hinted before his death that Argentina and Chile would team up to host the 2030 World Cup.
Silva made his comments after Chilean federation president Sergio Jadue was re-elected and said that his country had spoken two years ago to FIFA about hosting the competition, either alone or jointly with Uruguay who staged and won the first ever World Cup in 1930.
Chile hasn't held the event since 1962.
"Six months ago we had talked about this. Chile is ready and has the experience of having staged the Under-17 World Cup and the Copa America," Jadue told La Tercera.