The FIFA World Cup's going places, literally

2002: 2 hosts — Japan and South Korea
2026: 3 hosts — USA, Canada and Mexico
2030: 4 hosts —Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay?

Very possible. The four South American nations are set to submit a joint bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup — the centenary edition of football's most prestigious tournament — according to Chile's President Sebastian Pinera. Uruguay hosted and won the inaugural World Cup in 1930, Chile was the venue in 1962 and Argentina emulated its neighbour's achievement by lifting the trophy on home soil in 1978.

In 2017, Argentina and Uruguay originally announced their intention to submit a joint bid, with Paraguay joining the coalition later that year. Now Pinera said, via Twitter, that the countries' presidents had agreed to Chile's participation in the "joint candidacy". FYI: Mauricio Macri of Argentina, Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez and Paraguayan Mario Abdo Benitez are all passionate about football having all been president of a club in their countries. Pinera himself is a billionaire businessman who started out as a teacher but has no previous connection to football.

The South American bid faces competition from Morocco and potentially several other joint bids, including one from Britain and Ireland and another by an eastern European confederation of Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has even mooted a joint bid with Morocco, which has failed five times in bidding to host the World Cup and Portugal. How kicked are you?