Ukraine and Poland's Joint World Cup Bid Vision for 2040s

Ukraine has set its sights on the biggest stage in world football, floating the idea of a joint World Cup bid with Poland for a tournament in the 2040s – a bold vision from a country still at war and deep in reconstruction.

The prospect emerged through Minister of Youth and Sports Matviy Bidnyy, who raised the possibility in an interview with Politico. For now, it is exactly that: a possibility, not a project.

“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 tournament not as a dream plucked from thin air, but as part of a long-term national strategy.

He underlined that Ukraine wants a place at the top table of global sport, not only on the pitch but as a host.

Ukraine, he stressed, must factor major international events into its broader reconstruction plans. Stadiums, infrastructure, transport, security – in normal times, they are the backbone of any World Cup bid. In Ukraine’s case, they are also symbols of recovery.

“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,” Bidnyy noted, tying sport directly to identity and resilience.

But once the interview circulated, the brakes went on.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports moved quickly to cool any sense that a bid was imminent or that talks with Poland had already begun. In a clarification, officials stated that Ukraine is not currently holding any official negotiations or consultations with Poland regarding a joint World Cup bid.

The message was clear: this is a vision, not a campaign.

The ministry also drew a firm line around priorities. Victory in the war and the safety of Ukrainian citizens, it stressed, remain the country’s overriding concerns. The World Cup sits far down the list, in a distant future where peace and rebuilding are no longer hypothetical.

There is also the matter of process. Bidnyy pointed out that any concrete bid must come from within the game itself – from the football community or the relevant federation – not simply as a political initiative from a ministry.

On FIFA’s calendar, the window is real. The upcoming World Cups are already locked in: 2030 will be staged across Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, while Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 edition. The next open slot lies beyond that, deep into the 2040s, when today’s speculation could either harden into a serious proposal or fade into the background of football’s shifting geopolitics.

For now, Ukraine’s World Cup ambition lives in the realm of long-range planning and national aspiration, a reminder that even in wartime, the country is still thinking about the day it can invite the football world to its door.