Four South American countries on Tuesday launched an unprecedented joint bid to host the centenary 2030 World Cup with the hope of bringing the global showpiece back to its first home.
"We are in this iconic place where history began," said Alejandro Dominguez, president of South American football's governing body CONMEBOL, from the Centenario stadium in Montevideo where the first World Cup final was held in 1930.
Uruguay won that, beating Argentina 4-2, but now the neighbors have joined together — alongside Paraguay and Chile — to bid for the right to host the 2030 global showpiece under the "Juntos 2030" (Together 2030) slogan.
"This is not the project of a government but the dream of a whole continent," added Dominguez.
"There will be other World Cups but 100 years will be celebrated only once."
The idea of a joint South American bid for the 2030 tournament was first mooted by Uruguay and Argentina in 2017 and two years later the four potential hosts had been established.
But it has taken until now for them to make their bid official.
And the romantic idea of bringing the tournament back to its first home was central to the plans of the football and sporting authorities from the four countries present at Tuesday's launch.
The joint South American bid will likely come up against at least two other proposals.
Spain and Portugal have officially submitted a joint bid while Morocco have repeatedly insisted they will bid to become only the second ever African country to host the finals.
There has also been tentative talk of an Israeli bid alongside the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The 2030 tournament will feature 48 teams and Dominguez said around 14 stadiums would be used for around 80 matches.
If successful it would be the first time that as many as four countries host the World Cup.
The 2026 tournament has already been awarded to three countries — Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The last World Cup to be hosted in South America was Brazil 2014.