Egypt’s sports ministry has set lofty goals by preparing the nation to bid to host the Olympic Games in 2032, and the FIFA World Cup in 2030.
According to Ahram Online, Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhy said in a press conference Tuesday that Egypt is targeting the two major world events as part of strategy to develop and grow Egyptian sports.
Sobhy added that his country has the financial and tangible means to host major sporting events.
Egyptian President President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said during a meeting “Egyptian youth are the focal point for the country’s development and economic security,” adding that the Ministry of Youth and Sports plays a key role in economic development.
An Olympic Games has never been held in Africa, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is prepared in October to elect either Botswana, Nigeria or Senegal to host the 2022 Youth Olympic Games after declaring that it will only open the bidding to African nations.
Cairo unsuccessfully bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, and Alexandria in Egypt failed to land the 1916 Games that were later canceled due to World War I, and the 1936 Games that were instead awarded to Berlin.
Egypt’s only FIFA World Cup bid ended in disaster when its campaign to host the 2010 event failed to win even a single vote from a FIFA panel.
The most recent major event hosted in the nation was the Cairo 2017 FIBA Basketball U-17 World Cup held in the Capital.
The IOC will wait until 2025 before electing a 2032 host, but interest in mounting a bid has already been expressed by India, Australia, Germany, Russia and jointly by Malaysia and Singapore.
Last year the IOC elected both Paris to host in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028 during an historic double-allocation after all other rivals dropped out of the race. The election of the U.S. city eleven years ahead of the opening ceremony set a record for the earliest site selection, and forced other interested cities to wait an additional four years before getting a chance to bid.
