Saudi Arabia is in talks with sports executives in Egypt and Greece over a joint bid to host the 2030 football World Cup finals, an Egyptian official said Friday in televised remarks.

“The three countries are working flat out” and “the application to organize (the 2030 World Cup) is being studied”, sports ministry spokesman Mohammed Fawzi told DMC television.

“Egypt will be one of the best countries” to organize such a sports event, he said, stressing that his country had hosted many world championships in the past three years.

Hosting major international sporting events, including European club football and boxing world title bouts, is also a key part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy.

A source at Greece’s Hellenic Football Federation confirmed to AFP in Athens that the three countries were holding discussions about a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

If successful, the event would be held in the northern winter to avoid extreme temperatures in the three countries, as with this year’s World Cup in Qatar, British newspaper The Times reported on Thursday.

The bid by Egypt, Greece and Saudi Arabia will come up against at least two other joint proposals.

Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay launched a bid to host the 2030 World Cup in early August, while Spain and Portugal announced their joint candidacy last year.

The joint South American bid aims to stage the 2030 final in the very same Centenario stadium in Montevideo that hosted the first title match 100 years earlier.

The countdown is currently on for the Middle East's first ever FIFA World Cup, which Qatar will host in November.

More than a million football fans are expected to attend the tournament.

The event is set to start on November 20, a day earlier than planned, following a last-minute change announced in August.