England should mount joint-hosting bid for 2030 World Cup: Blatter
England deserve to host the World Cup Finals in 2030 and should mount a joint bid with the other home nations - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - as well as Ireland, banned former Fifa president Sepp Blatter said yesterday.
"I think that England, or the islands, they deserve to organise the World Cup," Blatter, in Russia to attend the World Cup as a guest of President Vladimir Putin, told Sky Sports.
"They had it in 1966, so it's a long time ago. (I was told that) it could be with Wales and Scotland together but I said why not Ireland altogether?
"With 48 teams, you need more than one country to host it."
England bid for this year's tournament but lost out to Russia despite being one of the favourites.
Blatter, who led football's world governing body for 17 years, is serving a six-year ban for unethical conduct after Fifa was rocked by a global corruption scandal in 2015.
The ban on Blatter from "all football activities" was imposed shortly after the Swiss attorney general's office began criminal proceedings against him on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation.
No charges have yet been brought and Blatter has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. - REUTERS
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