Ghana Minister Backs Potential Joint World Cup Bid With Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire
Ghana’s Minister of Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, believes Ghana could one day join forces with Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire to bid to host the FIFA World Cup, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
Adams pointed to the growing use of multi-country hosting as a model that could potentially be explored by the three West African neighbours.
He cited the 2026 World Cup, which is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as the 2030 tournament involving Morocco, Portugal and Spain, as examples of countries working together to stage football’s biggest tournament.
“They [FIFA] are beginning to adopt several nations doing it, so maybe who knows, the next one would be Ghana, Nigeria, and then Côte d’Ivoire coming together to also host the World Cup and it will be good,” Adams said.
The Ghanaian minister also highlighted the infrastructure investments and recent experience of the three countries in hosting major international sporting events as potential strengths behind such an ambition.
“I believe that we, together with Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, who have already invested quite a lot because they hosted AFCON not too long ago, we can also ask for that right,” he added.
Côte d’Ivoire hosted the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, while Ghana staged the delayed 2023 African Games in 2024.
A joint bid from Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire would, however, be a long-term proposal rather than an immediate possibility. FIFA has already awarded the 2030 World Cup hosting rights to Morocco, Portugal and Spain, with three centenary matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, while Saudi Arabia has been selected to host the 2034 tournament.
Adams’ comments therefore point to a potential West African ambition for a future World Cup cycle, rather than an existing bid by the three countries.
For now, there is no indication that Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire have formally begun a joint FIFA World Cup bidding process.
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