Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia 'considering joint World Cup 2030 bid'

Algeria's Minister for Youth and Sport announced on Sunday his country was looking into making a joint bid for the 2030 World Cup along with neighbours Tunisia and Morocco, the Algerian newspaper El Khabar reported.

Mohammed Hattab told reporters in the Spanish city of Tarragona: "Recent news about possibility that Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco submit a joint bid for the 2030 World Cup finals are correct," according to the Kuwait News Agency.

Hattab added that the joint bid was to be discussed between the countries and a joint committee would be set up in due course.

Algeria and Morocco have had difficult relations that led to border tensions and closures in the past, with Algeria backing separatists in the neighbouring kingdom.

Morocco have already made public their intention to make a bid for 2030, after losing out to the US, Mexico and Canada for the 2026 tournament, the decision for which was announced earlier this year.

Hattab said the coordination between the three countries would boost their chances of hosting the football tournament, and said he hoped to emulate the success of the joint North American 2026 bid.

Local media had recently been reporting that the Morocco's King Mohamed VI had sent messages to Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, inviting him to make a shared bid for the 2030 World Cup.

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Speculation of the joint bid has been welcomed by social media users, as a celebration of North African culture and a boost to the political and economic stability of the region.

Both Morocco and Tunisia qualified for this year's World Cup finals in Russia, and Algeria too has a long-standing football tradition.

A World Cup in the Maghreb in 2030 would be only the second time the tournament was held in Africa, after South Africa in 2010, and also the second held in an Arab or Muslim country, after Qatar in 2022.

The North African neighbours will however face stiff 2030 hosting competition from rival South American trio Uruguay Argentina and Paraguay, as well as South Korea, North Korea, Japan and China, in addition to the UK, who are all planning bids for the ultra popular tournament.