FA considering England's bid to host 2030 World Cup

Football might be coming home after all, just not as planned.

After the belief that England may finally taste World Cup success again was ultimately ended by Croatia in the semi-final in Russia this summer, attention has turned to the future.

The Football Association is now beginning to weigh up whether an attempt to host the tournament at the next available opportunity in 2030 could be successful.

For the hosting rights, any English or wider UK bid would be up against a strong joint South American campaign including Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. 2030 will be the centennial commemoration of the first World Cup, hosted and won by the Uruguayans in 1930.

FA chairman Greg Clarke said, as reported by BBC Sport: "This (preparatory) work will take place during the new season and no decision will be made until 2019."

England has hosted the World Cup once - in 1966, when the nation secured its only tournament victory to date. It has held only one other major competition, the 1996 European Championship, although Wembley will be one of 12 host venues for Euro 2020. The FA failed with a bid to host this summer's edition, beaten to the punch by Russia.

Clarke added England will not look to step in should Qatar be stripped of hosting duties for the 2022 iteration, which is currently scheduled to take place during one of the busiest months of the European club season from late November to late December.

"FIFA has chosen Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup and they have a duty to investigate any issues around the process that are rightly thrown into question," Clarke explained. "Russia did a brilliant job hosting the 2018 World Cup and we support the rotation of World Cup hosting around confederations. That would make the 2030 World Cup the next one a European nation might be able to host and not before. Anyone suggesting otherwise is acting disrespectfully to our global game, and does not speak for the English FA."