{"id":63234,"date":"2026-07-29T03:16:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/63234\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T03:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:16:48","slug":"germany-wants-to-host-world-cup-in-2038-or-2042","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/63234\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany wants to host World Cup in 2038 or 2042"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of German football\u2019s leading executives says that his country should be considered a leading contender to host the men\u2019s World Cup in either 2038 or 2042.<\/p>\n

Axel Hellmann, the CEO of Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and a member of the German Football Association (DFB)\u2019s management board, has told The Athletic that Germany would have \u201cthe full infrastructure for everything that is needed\u201d, while also expressing fears that the record-high ticket pricing set by FIFA this summer<\/a> could set a dangerous precedent for future competitions.<\/p>\n

Bernd Neuendorf, the president of the DFB, has previously suggested his organization would address the question of a bid in the future. Hellmann says: \u201cWe would love to, and there is an initiative by Neuendorf and the DFB to run for 2042, maybe 2038. It depends on FIFA regulations.\u201d The DFB declined to comment, with FIFA\u2019s bid processes for the two tournaments yet to open.<\/p>\n

One of the challenges to a German bid for 2038 is FIFA\u2019s confederation rotation principle. Two tournaments must pass by before a confederation can host another World Cup. In 2030, the tournament will be shared across three continents (Africa, Europe and South America) and six countries (Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay).<\/p>\n

This made the 2034 tournament essentially a fait accompli for Saudi Arabia, which belongs to the Asian confederation. Under the rotation principle, this would leave only North America and Oceania as options for 2038, and, as Australia belongs to the Asian confederation, the door appears firmly open for a return to the United States, which co-hosted the 2026 tournament with Canada and Mexico, and is set to host the 2031 women\u2019s tournament with Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica<\/a>.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump has already publicly said\u00a0he would like to host another men\u2019s World Cup<\/a>, while White House World Cup task force director Andrew Giuliani has said he believes the U.S. could \u201chandle\u201d an expansion to 64 teams.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Germany fans celebrate the team finishing third at the last men\u2019s World Cup it hosted in 2006 (Alexander Hassenstein\/Bongarts\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no better country that\u2019s positioned to host a World Cup than the United States,\u201d said Giuliani<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hellmann says he is unsure if FIFA would need to change the rule, suggesting it could demonstrate the \u201celasticity\u201d it has previously shown when making unorthodox policy decisions. He says the fact the 2030 competition is split across three tournaments means it should not rule out a European nation from hosting, or co-hosting, the World Cup two cycles down the line.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cGermany has the stadium infrastructure, mobility infrastructure and hotel infrastructure. Every single game will be sold out. It will be a success. There is space for (a bid) in 2038, but I\u2019m quite sure for 2042 we have very good chances to run a successful campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hellmann says the ultimate responsibility will fall on Neuendorf, as DFB president, but the Frankfurt CEO says \u201cit\u2019s important to send a signal to German society\u201d that the nation is interested and ambitious. There have been some suggestions in France<\/a> of a joint bid with Germany but Hellmann says it is too early to say whether his country would host alone or with partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing is clear: Germany has the full infrastructure for everything that is needed. The number of stadiums at a certain size, as well as the training grounds we need. The infrastructure is there, but we need, let\u2019s say, somehow modern or reshaped stadiums.\u201d Hellmann says he would like to see a significant number of stadiums either improved or newly constructed.<\/p>\n

He says a World Cup would involve a \u201cmassive investment program\u201d but says the returns from the 2006 edition, the last time Germany hosted a World Cup, were significant in changing the way his nation was viewed globally. \u201cGermany in those times, we weren\u2019t in very good shape as a country, as an economy,\u201d Hellmann says. \u201cThe perception of Germany as a country changed totally in 2006 from, \u2018the Germans, they\u2019re too serious\u2019 to \u2018Germany is a great country with great hospitality.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doors we could open in the global market were massive. I said this was the best marketing and branding campaign we\u2019ve ever done. We invested in public transport and this could be used long-term for the whole society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hellmann praised the 2026 edition of the World Cup, saying it made sense to join the U.S. with Canada and Mexico and said he was impressed by how passionate the U.S. became for the tournament once it was on the country\u2019s doorstep. However, he said FIFA\u2019s pricing of the tournament was \u201ctotally against the concept we follow as a club (in Frankfurt).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial barriers shouldn\u2019t work as a way to keep people away from the matches,\u201d Hellmann said. \u201cYou create social barriers with your ticket price policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Eintracht Frankfurt, fans can buy cheap tickets, which he says are subsidized by having expensive hospitality tickets in higher price brackets. \u201cThis is solidarity because the people with deep pockets support the guys who can\u2019t do more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fans also travel via cheap public transport, while some cities in the U.S. \u2014 notably Boston and New York\/New Jersey \u2014 implemented special event pricing that saw fans asked to pay up to seven times the usual price of a ticket for the service during the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball is the sport of the people and it belongs to a certain extent to the people,\u201d Hellmann says. \u201cIf you want to create an experience for young kids to get this impulse and this magnetic effect of football, they have to follow a live match. That means you have to involve everybody \u2014 it\u2019s much bigger than just a market or a capitalist system. It is about participation for everybody at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why does Hellmann believe the FIFA tickets were priced so high? \u201cTheir financial interests<\/a> play a role. It is also a way to keep certain groups away from football that you don\u2019t want to have. Sometimes I see that also in continental Europe if you don\u2019t want to have ultras or other groups in the stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can accept that there\u2019s a calculation on the whole tournament. I\u2019m not a guy who\u2019s against a good and straight financial calculation that also gives long-term benefit to a lot of associations that do not participate \u2014 but get the solidarity fee out of the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other point is I\u2019m a bit afraid of the future of modern football if we use a price policy just to select groups who can participate in football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would even introduce safe standing again in these tournaments. We have great experience in Germany with safe standing, because this allows for cheap prices affordable for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Axel Hellmann says the \u201cfear\u201d is FIFA will seek to repeat its 2026 ticket price models (Ralf Ibing \u2013 firo sportphoto\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Is Hellmann worried that FIFA will seek to repeat the 2026 price models at future World Cups?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I fear, yes,\u201d Hellmann says. \u201cThat\u2019s why we should start a discussion about the future price policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I know people are rolling with their eyes about the Germans with their social approach to football. But it\u2019s a good approach because then football is always close to people. That is the point. It allows everybody to participate, and that\u2019s what I always say: if you follow an Eintracht Frankfurt match in the stadium, you don\u2019t become a Paris Saint-Germain fan on the sofa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to have the young kids really bound to football, this is the most important thing to give them: the live experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside the World Cup ticket price jump<\/p>\n

Henry Bushnell<\/p>\n

One difference outside the U.S. will be that many other countries forbid the resale platforms that saw tickets for some games sell on for even higher prices. It is notable that very few national associations appeared to push back publicly on FIFA\u2019s pricing. The DFB managing director Andreas Rettig did say his association would have liked to see cheaper tickets and also said it was only informed of the prices by FIFA a few hours before the start of the application process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of diplomacy because it\u2019s difficult to start a debate,\u201d Hellmann says. \u201cTo a certain extent you want to avoid any consequences because of a critical debate in FIFA.\u201d<\/p>\n

That becomes especially the case when a federation requires FIFA\u2019s support for a World Cup bid. Hellmann says he has no personal issue with FIFA president Gianni Infantino.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to accept that FIFA is not only consisting of one association or the European association,\u201d Hellmann acknowledges. \u201cThere are also others in the world who can just be happy to participate and to be a part of the tournament. FIFA has to see the whole variety of all the countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe it makes sense to start a debate on your own. We have too many, too different interests in the whole FIFA landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of German football\u2019s leading executives says that his country should be considered a leading contender to host…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[846,3226,918,172,5,29329,174,710,3748],"class_list":["post-63234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-bundesliga","tag-champions-league","tag-culture","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-germany","tag-ligue-1","tag-premier-league","tag-soccer","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}