Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has been asked to back a potential bid by the nation for the 2042 men's football World Cup.
The CDU, the majority partner in the German government with the Social Democrats, is to position itself at its February 20-21 federal conference, based on an according motion from its western German Rhine-Erft district.
"The federal party conference of the CDU Germany may decide: The CDU Germany supports Germany's bid to FIFA to host the Men's FIFA World Cup in 2042," says the motion seen by dpa and first reported by the Rheinische Post paper.
Based on the German motto of the 2006 World Cup, the motion translates to "The world as a guest among friends 2.0." The official English 2006 motto was "A time to make friends."
According to the motion, the government led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz is to prepare a concept and to "positively encourage and support" a bid by the German Football Federation (DFB).
It said that authoritarian countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been named hosts for 2022 and 2034, and that such countries only use the World Cup to "polish their image."
Therefore Germany as a host country should "represent the values of football, such as fair play, the rule of law and democracy."
Germany hosted the men's World Cup in 1974 and 2006, and the Euros in 1988 and 2024.
Looking at 2038 and 2042, DFB president Bernd Neuendorf has said he could imagine in principle "that we address this issue in the future and examine the conditions under which such a bid would even be conceivable."
Neuendorf said that only a few FAs had the infrastructure to host such a 48-team tournament and that "we can confidently say that we have such an infrastructure."
The next World Cup is this summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the 2030 edition in six countries but mainly in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and the 2034 tournament in Saudi Arabia.
