Burnham wants to bring men's World Cup back to UK in 2042

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has said he wants to bring the men's football World Cup to the UK in 2042, which would mark the tournament's return to British shores for the first time in nearly eighty years. At a meeting in Manchester on Friday, Burnham told regional mayors he was keen to see the tournament played somewhere in the British Isles.

The UK has hosted and won the World Cup only once, in 1966, when England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time in the final. Burnham, an avid football fan and Everton season-ticket holder, said earlier this month it was "insane" that only one World Cup had ever been staged in the UK.

It is understood a formal bid could involve other home nations as well, none of which have ever hosted World Cup matches. Joint bids by multiple countries for major tournaments have become increasingly common in recent years — England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are set to jointly host the 2028 European Championship.

A Downing Street source said the government supports the Football Association's ambitions for tournaments it is already hosting and any others it may wish to bid for, describing the World Cup idea as a general aspiration rather than a concrete plan.

Under Fifa's rotation rules, no European nation is eligible to host the World Cup until 2042, since the tournament cannot be held on the same continent as either of the two preceding editions. The 2030 World Cup will be hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with some matches also played in South America to mark the tournament's centenary, while the 2034 edition will take place in Saudi Arabia. The host of the 2038 tournament has not yet been announced, though it is expected to go to North America or Oceania.

Burnham is also understood to have raised the possibility of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the north of England during the 2040s, an option UK Sport was asked to assess earlier this year.