FIFA President Gianni Infantino welcomed today Ecuador President Lenin Moreno to the Home of FIFA, Zurich, Switzerland, and held a meeting that provided the visiting head of state the opportunity to present the ‘Juego Limpio 2030’ project - which is combining sports and social objectives - as well as to express Ecuador’s interest in co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
“I would like to congratulate President Moreno for his project Juego Limpio, which is fundamental for the youth,” said the FIFA President. “This is a project that FIFA will support alongside the Ecuadorian Football Federation. I will go personally to Ecuador soon to see what can be done concretely to make this project the most successful.”
“We also discussed about the 2030 FIFA World Cup and Ecuador’s interest, together with several of its neighbours, to maybe bid to host the event,” Mr Infantino added. “As FIFA President, I’m very happy because the more bidders we have the better, especially when those are beautiful, football countries like Ecuador. Before that, we will also see what other competitions can be organised, such as youth or women competitions, because football is for all, men and women.”
President of Ecuador Lenín Moreno visits FIFA President Gianni Infantino
“We discussed about several projects, particularly our project Juego Limpio 2030, which is about playing fair on the pitch but most importantly off the pitch and use the values that one see on the pitch - such as loyalty, passion, tenacity - and bring them to daily life in order to live better in society,” said Ecuador President Lenin Moreno. “I also shared our desire to host the World Cup 2030, which has been welcomed with enthusiasm. We will be attentive to the bidding conditions with a view to 2024, which is when the decision will be taken. We are interested in hosting for the benefit of the three countries, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.”
The Juego Limpio 2030 programme aims to create or redevelop 1,000 football pitches in Ecuador, with the objective of using football as a social development tool to tackle drug use, violence and corruption. It will also establish 500 new football schools by the Ecuador Football Federation (FEF) in order to support talent development between 10 and 18 years of age.