England lose bid to host the 2018 World Cup!

[CorkerSWFC 10]

It's not looking good for England's bid, watch panarama tonight people...

 

Russia ready for World Cup D-Day

 

Russia is hoping to welcome the world by the end of this week, with increasing optimism that the country will get the nod from FIFA to host the World Cup in 2018 after Thursday’s vote in Zurich.

 

And with the final frantic lobbying for votes well underway, the bid has inched to the top of the bookmakers’ odds to land the prestigious prize.

 

British bookie William Hill makes Russia odds-on 4/6 favourite, with England’s bid rated a 9/4 chance and the Spain-Portugal joint offer at 3/1.

 

The Iberian pair claimed last week to have secured eight votes of the 22 available from their contacts in Latin America, prompting renewed interest in their chances.

 

But the feeling remains that FIFA does not want a joint bid – which would also rule out a Netherlands-Belgium proposal.

 

Nationwide support

 

The international match between Russia and Belgium in Voronezh earlier this month was no great success on the pitch – but the sight of a packed stadium in the provincial city underlines the enthusiasm for top-level football across Russia.

 

And while national team coach Dick Advocaat said the choice of venue was not linked to 2018, he is hopeful that a thumbs-up on Thursday can help regenerate Russian football.

 

“It can start off new stadiums, and that is what we need,” he told The Moscow News. “If you get better stadiums, you get a better competition and you get better players.”

 

Media storm

 

England had long been seen as the most likely host, playing on its established footballing status and an existing stadium infrastructure.

 

But a series of scandals in the British media, due to culminate in a BBC documentary screened on Monday evening, has left raw nerves among FIFA bosses.

 

An investigation by the Sunday Times newspaper led to two voting members of the executive committee being suspended on Nov. 17.

 

And there is a growing sense that the remaining delegates will use their votes to “punish” England – and potentially help Russia.

 

Legacy vs. tradition

 

With the three rival bidders all having hosted major tournaments before – England had the 1966 World Cup and 1996 European Champions, Spain hosted the 1982 World Cup while Belgium, Holland and Portugal have all held Euros since 2000 – Russia is the maverick choice.

 

However, in recent years FIFA President Sepp Blatter has earmarked “legacy” as the defining issue for future World Cups.

 

And after managing to stage tournaments in Asia and Africa for the first time, there are strong grounds to suspect that the authorities will be confident looking beyond a “safe pair of hands” to host the 2018 tournament.

[taxman 12]

It will all depend on which bid will give the biggest bungs to the massively corrupt FIFA spivs.

[CorkerSWFC 10]

It will all depend on which bid will give the biggest bungs to the massively corrupt FIFA spivs.

 

That's already in place, that's why Russia will win it.

[JFKvsNixon 11]

All is not lost, I remember everyone saying that Paris had sewn up the Olympic bid for 2012.

[daftlad 11]

It will be a massive blow for the fans if the Ruskys get it. Look how big Russia is and how far apart the grounds are. i know the travel will be cheap in Russia but the time spent travelling is ridiculous

[Noob 10]

I`ll plump for Qatar.

[JFKvsNixon 11]

I`ll plump for Qatar.

 

I don't think that they're running for the 2018 World Cup.

[HeadingNorth 11]

I don't think that they're running for the 2018 World Cup.

 

They are not. 2018 is certain to be in Europe, which in turn means that 2022 is certain not to be - that's why England withdrew their 2022 bid.

[CorkerSWFC 10]

Panorama: Three Fifa World Cup officials took bribes....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11841783

[Mercenary 10]

I hope it doesn't, it's not worth the pandering to FIFA. Sepp Blatter, Jack Warner... total idiots.

[Mercenary 10]

Paul Haywood's piece in the Guardian.

 

The vision of a prime minister, a future king and England's most recognised footballer prostrating themselves before Fifa's pseudo-papal state was never going to be edifying. days before the 2018 World Cup vote, the English bid is starting to feel like complicity in the supreme authority's slavering pursuit of the game's astronomical wealth, both over and underneath the counter.

 

Guilt by association is not a charge David Cameron, Prince William or David Beckham would answer to. They would say the prize exceeds any compromise they might have to make by playing politics in Zurich. But the reality is that all those on the catwalk in this parade are going along with the world governing body's refusal to reform. To see world leaders confer respectability on such a dubious private club is unendingly worrying.

 

The allegations of influence-peddling outlined by Panorama, which follow a Sunday Times exposé into alleged vote-selling by Fifa executive committee members, have rendered Thursday's vote hollow, except that a verdict will be delivered anyway, and two bidders will fly away from the lakes counting the gains from being awarded the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

 

Sepp Blatter's dysfunctional "football family" will be left with a choice: become a transparent international parliament for the world's favourite game or continue to provide a means for opportunists to sell power to would-be tournament hosts and private companies.

 

The modern Fifa is what happens when an administrative body mutates into a rampantly commercial animal. No longer mere custodians of the game, they become deal-makers inflating the price of television contracts and fostering a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately culture. Countries hoping to earn the ultimate honour of staging sport's biggest event after the Olympics are encouraged to engage in a beauty contest which is so constructed to allow favours to be swapped, inducements to be laid out and – if the Sunday Times was correct – individual executive committee members to profit at the ballot box.

 

Don't let them vote, it only encourages them. Only a minor tweak of the old anarchist slogan is required to capture the feelings of many as the Zurich cabaret opens. In a more idealistic world the 2018 and 2022 votes would be postponed indefinitely, or all the bidders would assert their displeasure by withdrawing their applications, leaving the lawns of Fifa HQ as the only viable venue until corruption is faced. Temptation exists partly because Fifa is less busy than Uefa, the European equivalent, or the national associations who kneel at Blatter's throne. Fifa has fewer tournaments to organise and so less to bestow. When the chance comes round, World Cup staging is instantly ensnared with inter-confederation politics and the ambitions of less wealthy countries hunting a greater share of the booty.

 

Many times the thought has arisen: are horsetrading and acquiescence a price worth paying for an event England have not won since 1966? Here, international football is an afterthought to the global proselytising of the Premier League. The mother country would have a hard time refuting the charge that the English just don't take the international game seriously, however giddy St George turns every couple of years.

 

The stock defence will be that Panorama's allegations are "old". Much was already known about Fifa's relationship with the now defunct marketing firm International Sports and Leisure (ISL) from past revelations and a Swiss court case. The payouts by ISL at the time were not a criminal offence in Switzerland but the alleged scale ($100m) highlighted by Andrew Jennings and the BBC is undeniably shocking, even if Panorama succumbed to the usual silly cult of the presenter.

 

Among those accused are the heads of African, Brazilian and South American football (Issa Hayatou, Ricardo Teixeira and Nicolás Léoz). Jack Warner, a major powerbroker and intended lunch partner for Cameron, has been wooed nonstop by England's bid leaders. Fabio Capello's team were even shipped out to Trinidad and Tobago for a game partly to please Warner, the Concacaf president, who faces fresh accusations that he "used his position to try to help touts obtain tickets for the 2010 World Cup". These allegations are being pinned not to minor functionaries but senior members of the politburo.

 

The long reach of the Panorama material – 10 years and more – increases rather than diminishes its seriousness. It says long-term survival is possible at Fifa even after malpractice has been exposed. Casual observers will see the same old faces presenting themselves for another chance to play God.

 

The four named by Panorama are in addition to the Exco members accused in the Sunday Times investigation, which means six of the 23 who were scheduled to vote on Thursday – two of whom have been suspended and will not take part – are the subject of suspicion. In its urge to bring a World Cup final to Wembley for the first time in 52 years, the English bid called Panorama's timing "unpatriotic" and talked of "our friends" on the committee. Realpolitik, they would call it. Desperation, others would say.

[CorkerSWFC 10]

Live from Zurich...........

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9247651.stm