LAURA McAllister believes there is a huge appetite for Wales to host the 2030 World Cup in a join bid with England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland despite the financial hit of the coronavirus pandemic.

It has been reported that the UK government will pledge £2.8million to start the process of the bid in the Budget on Wednesday.

A joint statement released by the FAs of the countries read: "The football associations and Government partners of the UK and Ireland are delighted that the UK Government has committed to support a prospective five-association bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

"We will continue to undertake feasibility work to assess the viability of a bid before FIFA formally open the process in 2022.

"Staging a FIFA World Cup would provide an incredible opportunity to deliver tangible benefits for our nations.

"If a decision is made to bid for the event, we look forward to presenting our hosting proposals to FIFA and the wider global football community."

The 2022 World Cup will take place in Qatar next year, while the 2026 tournament is to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

England have not hosted the World Cup since the victorious 1966 campaign.

London, Glasgow and Dublin are among the 12 host cities for the delayed 2020 European Championship, which is scheduled to take place this summer.

Handout photo dated 17/02/2021 provided by the Football Association of Wales of Laura McAllister at the Vale Resort, Hensol. Issue date: Tuesday March 2, 2021.

Handout photo dated 17/02/2021 provided by the Football Association of Wales of Laura McAllister at the Vale Resort, Hensol. Issue date: Tuesday March 2, 2021.

Former Wales captain McAllister, who is standing for election to the FIFA Council as UEFA's female representative next month, believes there would be an appetite from the public to stage the event despite the hardships of the pandemic.

McAllister, who is a member of the Football Association of Wales Trust board, said: "I understand the point but I think throughout the history of bids is that the public appreciate that football particularly and sport in general give such enormous pleasure to all of us.

"It's a source of satisfaction and a ray of light at dark times. Clearly public money is at a premium, we know we're going to have to rebuild the economy after Covid and the effects of the pandemic but having a World Cup on British soil for the first time since 1966 would be tremendous for every nation within the UK and I think we could do a fantastic job."