Poland and Ukraine are considering a joint bid to host a future men's FIFA World Cup, reviving a partnership that staged the 2012 European Championship. Ukrainian Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi told POLITICO that Kyiv was interested in exploring a joint bid with the next available World Cup slot expected to be in the 2040s. “The nearest open date for the World Cup is somewhere in the 2040s … so we need to plan for this perspective right now,” Bidnyi said. But Poland's Ministry of Sport and Tourism told TVP World on Friday that it was not holding talks with Ukraine about hosting the tournament, contradicting reports of discussions over a potential joint bid. “The Ministry of Sport and Tourism is not holding talks with the Ukrainian side about organising the football World Cup,” the ministry said. Euro 2012 Ukraine and Poland successfully co-hosted Euro 2012, staging matches across four cities. Bidnyi said repeating that experience would make sense. “It would be very logical to repeat this successful case,” he said, adding that such a bid could “invite investors’ attention.” The proposal would, however, depend on a dramatic transformation in Ukraine's security situation. Problems to overcome Russia's full-scale invasion has devastated infrastructure and left Ukraine facing reconstruction and recovery needs estimated at nearly $588 billion over the next decade, according to a joint assessment by the Ukrainian government, World Bank, European Commission and United Nations. The damage is visible in the legacy of Euro 2012 itself. Donbas Arena in Donetsk hosted five matches during the tournament but was later damaged by shelling after Russian-backed separatists seized parts of the region in 2014. Home team Shakhtar Donetsk, which played there, has never returned to the stadium. The prospect of a World Cup bid was also discussed on the sidelines of this year's Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, according to a Polish government official cited by POLITICO. Poland's and Ukraine's sports ministries and football associations were not immediately available for comment. Bidnyi said any formal bid would ultimately have to come from the football authorities. “We’re interested in it, but … it starts from the initiatives of sports community or sports federation. So we will see,” he said. Partnership under strain The idea comes as relations between the two neighbors have become increasingly sensitive. Poland has been one of Ukraine's strongest wartime supporters, but disputes over the history of World War Two and Ukrainian nationalism have fueled growing anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland. Tensions intensified this year after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renamed a military unit after the “Heroes of the UPA”, referring to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, whose forces also carried out massacres of Polish civilians during the war. A recent Polish poll found that 46% of Poles viewed relations with Ukraine negatively, the highest level recorded by the pollster. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned both sides against allowing historical disputes to become a “strategic mistake” that could benefit Russia.
Some matches during the Euro 2012 were played in Kharkiv – one of the most unsafe cities in Ukraine right now. (AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)
