Ukraine and Poland are weighing up a joint bid to host the biggest sporting event on the planet: the men’s FIFA World Cup.
Kyiv’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi told POLITICO that Ukraine, which is currently fending off the Kremlin’s yearslong full-scale invasion, would like to host with Poland in the next open World Cup slot. Poland is discussing the prospect, according to an official briefed by the Warsaw government.
“The nearest open date for the World Cup is somewhere in the 2040s … so we need to plan for this perspective right now,” said Bidnyi, as he confirmed his country was interested in exploring a joint-hosting bid. Spain, Portugal and Morocco are hosting in 2030, and Saudi Arabia is the lone host in 2034.
Ukraine already has experience organizing a major tournament with Poland, Bidnyi added, pointing to the men’s Euro 2012 football championship. “It would be very logical to repeat this successful case,” he said, noting that such a bid could also “invite investors’ attention.”
Any proposal would unfold in a dramatically different context from Euro 2012. Russia’s assault has left Ukraine with reconstruction and recovery needs estimated at nearly $588 billion over the next decade — almost three times the country’s projected nominal GDP for 2025 — according to an assessment by the Ukrainian government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission and the United Nations.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s onslaught also shows no signs of abating, as Russian forces push to occupy Ukraine and bombard major cities across the country almost every night. Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 1, Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said there was “no safe space left” in the country and that civilian casualties during the first half of 2026 were 114 percent higher than during the same period in 2024.
The Donbas Arena offers a glimpse into the infrastructure challenges Ukraine would face in hosting another major tournament. The futuristic stadium in Donetsk staged five Euro 2012 matches, but in 2014 Russian-backed separatists seized control of parts of the region and fighting broke out between them and the Ukrainian army. FC Shakhtar Donetsk, the domestic club that played in the stadium, was forced to leave the city and shelling later damaged the arena. The club has never been able to return and now plays its home games in western Ukraine.
The politics behind the cup
The World Cup is frequently staged with political tensions as a backdrop. Russia itself hosted in 2018, years after Putin annexed Crimea and instigated the war in eastern Ukraine. Some Western politicians called on FIFA to strip Russia of its hosting rights, but the tournament went ahead as planned, offering Moscow an opportunity to project an image of normalcy and prestige amid continued criticism of its belligerent foreign policy.
This summer, FIFA’s relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump overshadowed the run-up to the tournament — and exploded during the competition ahead of a knockout match between America and Belgium.
Pressed on whether the Polish-Ukrainian idea reflected live discussions or a longer-term postwar ambition, Bidnyi said, “We will work on it … we continue to be the country who is directed on the biggest sports achievements. It’s part of our national culture, and we want to develop it despite all these difficulties.”
Any formal push, he noted, would need to originate with the sports community or football federations themselves. “We’re interested in it, but … it starts from the initiatives of sports community or sports federation. So we will see,” he said.
The idea was also raised in conversations on the sidelines of this year’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, according to the official briefed by the Polish government, who was granted anonymity to talk about private discussions. The country’s sports ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Fragile friendship
Poland and Ukraine’s wartime partnership has become strained, as a dispute over historical memory spills into a broader political row.
Tensions flared in June after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renamed a military unit after the “Heroes of the UPA,” a nationalist force that fought for Ukrainian independence but also carried out massacres of Polish civilians during World War II.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki responded by stripping Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor and threatening to block Ukraine’s path to EU membership unless Kyiv issued an apology. Prime Minister Donald Tusk sought to defuse the dispute, warning politicians on both sides against turning it into a “strategic mistake” that could benefit Russia.
An August poll found that 46 percent of Poles now view relations with Ukraine negatively — the highest share on record.
Vasyl Mokan, a member of Ukraine’s parliament and deputy chair of its Committee on Youth and Sports, said the committee had not received official information confirming that discussions over a possible bid had taken place — though he called the proposal “both compelling and full of potential.”
“A joint FIFA World Cup bid by Ukraine and Poland would be much more than a major sporting event,” he said. “It would serve as a powerful symbol of European solidarity with Ukraine.”
An end to the war, a just and lasting peace, and credible long-term security guarantees would be essential prerequisites for hosting matches in Ukraine, Mokan said.
“Without these conditions, it would be premature to speak about hosting a FIFA World Cup in Ukraine,” he said — adding that if Ukraine aspires to co-host the tournament one day, “preparations must begin now through consistent long-term planning.”
Any candidacy would still hinge on security conditions, infrastructure development and FIFA’s formal bidding process.
