The announcement was made at a press conference attended by Macri and Uruguayan counterpart Tabaré Vázquez, who both agreed that potentially co-hosting the tournament was the “best opportunity” to land the rights to the competition.

The two countries are steeped in footballing tradition and have each won the World Cup twice.

Uruguay triumphed on home soil during the inaugural tournament, which featured 13 teams, in 1930, beating Argentina 4-2 in the final. 

Uruguay claimed their second title 20 years later in Brazil.

Argentina, meanwhile, won the 1978 tournament, which they hosted, beating The Netherlands 3-1 in the final in Buenos Aires.

They went on to lift the World Cup trophy at the 1986 tournament in Mexico City, during which Argentina captain caused controversy by scoring the infamous “Hand of God” goal in his nation’s 2-1 quarter-final victory over England.

“We have decided that our best opportunity is to jointly nominate ourselves as candidates,” Macri said during a visit to Colonia.

The joint-bid from Argentina and Uruguay is the first expression of interest in staging the 2030 World Cup.

A combined effort from the two South American countries has been mooted in the past and the idea was originally approved in 2007 after the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) put forward a proposal to the Argentine Football Association (AFA).

Two years earlier, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, recently handed an eight-year ban along with UEFA chief Michel Platini for various ethics breaches, had met with Vázquez, who had suggested Uruguay stage the 2030 edition with another country to mark the 100 year anniversary since the first tournament in 1930.

The idea was also proposed in 2013 by the late Argentine Football Association President Julio Grondona, a former vice-president of FIFA and close ally of Blatter.

In 2014, however, a joint Argentina-Uruguay bid seemed a distant prospect as Chilean local newspaper La Tercera quoted AFA vice-president Miguel Angel Silva as saying the country “would not bid to host the World Cup” in 2030.

The bid process for the 2026 tournament has not yet got underway after suspended FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke announced in June that it had been put on hold in the wake of a series of corruption scandals engulfing world football’s governing body.

Russia will play host to the 2018 competition while the 2022 tournament is due to take place in Qatar.

The bid processes for both tournaments remain the subject of criminal investigation.