Ukraine Considers Joint World Cup Bid with Poland for 2040s
Ukraine has set its gaze on one of world football’s grandest stages, floating the idea of a joint World Cup bid with Poland – not for the next decade, not even the one after that, but for the distant 2040s.
The notion surfaced through Minister of Youth and Sports Matviy Bidnyy, who outlined the long-range ambition in an interview with Politico. It is not a project plan. It is not even a formal proposal. Right now, it is a conversation.
“The next available date for the World Cup is sometime in the 2040s. We need to start planning for that now,” Bidnyy said, framing the idea less as a concrete campaign and more as a strategic marker on the horizon.
For Ukraine, the World Cup talk is about more than football. Bidnyy stressed that the country wants to remain a stage for major international sporting events and that such possibilities must be woven into long-term reconstruction plans. Sport, he argued, is not a luxury add-on. It is part of identity.
“We will work on this… We continue to be a country focused on the greatest sporting achievements. This is part of our national culture, and we want to develop it despite all these difficulties,” he noted.
The message was clear: Ukraine does not intend to step away from the global sporting map, even as it navigates war and recovery.
Yet the brakes were applied almost as quickly as the idea gained traction.
Once the interview drew attention, the Ministry of Youth and Sports moved to cool any suggestion that a joint bid with Poland was already in motion. In a clarification, officials underlined that Ukraine is not engaged in any official negotiations or consultations with Poland about hosting a World Cup together.
Any formal bid, the ministry stressed, would have to come from within the game itself – from the football authorities or the relevant sporting federations – not just from political ambition.
The priorities, they reminded, remain stark and immediate: victory in the war and the safety of Ukrainian citizens. Hosting a World Cup, at this stage, belongs firmly in the realm of long-term vision, not operational planning.
On FIFA’s calendar, the near future is already locked in. The 2030 World Cup will be shared by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, while Saudi Arabia will stage the 2034 edition. The 2040s are the next open window, a blank space where countries can begin to sketch dreams.
Ukraine has chosen to sketch, cautiously.
For now, the idea of a World Cup in a rebuilt Ukraine, potentially alongside Poland, sits as a distant landmark – a reminder that even in a time of conflict, the country is thinking about the day when its stadiums, not its shelters, are full.
