Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay had already submitted a joint bid to host the centenary edition of football’s most prestigious tournament, but Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera said on Twitter that those countries’ presidents had agreed to Chile’s participation in the “joint candidacy”.
Argentina and Uruguay originally announced their intention to submit a joint bid in 2017 before Paraguay joined the coalition later that year.
In December last year, Bolivia’s football-mad president Evo Morales offered those three countries help in their bid, proposing “two or three departments as sub-seats” for the competition.
Uruguay hosted and won the inaugural World Cup in 1930, Chile was the venue in 1962 and Argentina emulated its neighbor’s achievement by lifting the trophy on home soil in 1978.
Like Morales, 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.