Exclusive - World Cup Bids Assess Progress 100 Days From FIFA Decision

(WFI) Leaders of the bids vying to stage the 2018 or 2022 World Cup talk to ATR/INSIDER about their chances and the challenges that lie ahead in the final 100 days of campaigning. FIFA's 24-man executive committee will decide both tournament hosts in a vote on Dec. 2.

England, Holland-Belgium, Russia, Spain-Portugal and the USA are in the running for the 2018 World Cup, which FIFA president Sepp Blatter has indicated will be heading to Europe.

But the USA is mainly focusing on its pitch for 2022, with competition coming from Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea who are bidding solely for that tournament.

England

With a FIFA delegation scrutinising the England 2018 bid on day two of their inspection visit, the bid marked the 100 days countdown by flying a hot air balloon over Buckingham Palace in London to illustrate the royal family’s support for the campaign. Prince William, president of the Football Association, has played a key role in the bid since it launched in May 2009.

England 2018 CEO Andy Anson told INSIDER: "At the heart of England’s bid is football. We will help FIFA to serve the needs of football across the world by staging the most spectacular, the most successful World Cup ever. As a nation, we are united in our commitment to bring the FIFA World Cup to England.

"Just like FIFA, we believe in the power of football to open up new territories. A tournament in England will deliver a global legacy that will produce greater football and social benefits for more people than ever before. We will show that a FIFA World Cup in England is not just about what it can do for England, but about what a FIFA World Cup in England can do for the rest of the world."

Holland-Belgium

Harry Been, CEO of the Holland-Belgium bid, told INSIDER: "We are currently working on our final presentation which is due in Zurich in December. Of course, the final presentation is meant to convince the members of the Ex-co of the values of the FIFA World Cup for all parties involved in football.

"Fortunately, we were able to present our objectives to the FIFA inspection committee two weeks ago. During the last months before 2 December we shall further spread the word of our slogan 'Together for Great Goals'.

"Belgium and Holland are joint bidders based on the successful experience from EURO 2000. They want to make clear to football associations affiliated to FIFA that hosting the FIFA World Cup is not the exclusive right of the larger footballing nations.

"'Together' other nations might be able to follow in the footsteps of Belgium and The Netherlands. The greenest ever bid will have great impact with regards to sustainable stadiums, free bikes for fans and thousands of 'Worldcoaches' teaching children how to improve their football skills as well as their life skills. The Open Football clubs in Belgium and The Netherlands will serve as an example for football associations all over the world to use the impact of football on a daily basis. "

Russia

Vitaly Mutko, Russian sports minister and bid chairman, told INSIDER: "We are eager and committed to bring the World Cup to Russia and believe that our bid perfectly represents the type of long-term legacy that only a FIFA World Cup can deliver to a country, its people and indeed an entire region of the world.

"Via the inspection delegation, FIFA has seen the enthusiasm of the people and how much the various regions and the people in charge are behind our bid. A great deal of work is already in progress. We are fully determined in all our efforts to fulfil and excel the FIFA requirements and thus earn the right and privilege to host the FIFA World Cup."

Bid CEO Alexey Sorokin added: "I am very pleased that over the course of the four days of the inspection visit [last week] we have been able to prove our resources and competence to host the FIFA World Cup, should FIFA grant us this privilege and honour.

"With the inspection visit, we have successfully passed yet another milestone on our road and are now working to further promote our bid at various events and levels. At the same time, we are of course setting our sights to the final presentation to the FIFA Executive Committee in early December in Zurich."

Spain-Portugal

FIFA inspectors arrive in Madrid next Monday to begin their four-day evaluation of the bid.

Visits to Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium and Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium are on the agenda for the Spanish portion of the inspection. In Portugal, the stadiums of Sporting Lisbon and Benfica will be inspected along with Porto's Do Dragao stadium as well as a range of other facilities proposed in the bid book.

An Iberian bid spokesman told INSIDER: "We are working very hard this week because next week we have the FIFA inspectors visiting.

"We have support from the Spanish and Portuguese people and the governments. There are no battles between us, we [the two countries] are working as a team. We have the stadiums and the best weather. We hope we will have success in December."

USA

The US bid will welcome FIFA inspectors Sept. 6 to 9.

David Downs, the bid's executive director, told INSIDER: "With just 100 days to go until FIFA announces the host nations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, we feel good about what the USA bid has done so far to promote and communicate what we stand for to our fans, to the world and to FIFA.

"At the same time, we know there is a lot more work to do and we're looking forward to the months ahead.

"At the moment we are focused on the large amount of work that lays before us, starting with the FIFA Inspection Visit on September 6th, but we feel energized by the almost 1 million followers who have pledged their supportfor our bid on our various platforms.

"The cooperation from our 18 candidate host cities and stadiums continues to demonstrate to us just how much the game has changed here in the U.S. over the last 20 years, and it is also a constant reminder of how much the game could still grow if anchored by a World Cup on the horizon in 8 to 12 years."

The nations bidding solely for the 2022 World Cup

Australia

Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley told INSIDER: "Over the past month FIFA's inspection team declared that Australia was ready "in every aspect" to host the World Cup and our job now is to carry on delivering this message to FIFA's Executive Committee.

"As I and the bid team have promoted our bid during the year, we continue to be heartened by the positive attitude that many have to Australia and its people. The World Cup in South Africa once again highlighted how the people of Australia support not just their team, but are fans of football.

"Australia offers, not just an exciting and well organised tournament for FIFA and all of its stakeholders, but the World Cup will be a catalyst for football's further development in the one continent that has yet to host the world's greatest sporting event."

Japan

Bid chairman Junji Ogura told INSIDER: "During the inspection [last month], we have tried hard so that the inspection team could really understand our concept and proposals that would bring all benefits to FIFA, to the World Cup and to all 208 FIFA affiliate nations and regions in 2022.

"By that means, we are proud to receive Harold's [FIFA inspection chairman Harold Mayne] comment of evaluating Japan as a "very well balanced bid," a bid consisting of Japanese latest technology, hospitality, and new plans for the future of world football.

"We are confident in what we are proposing, andit is important that we continue to communicate the value of our proposals to the FIFA Ex-co members and the world football family to hold a World Cup where not only the hosting nation but the whole world can share its joy and legacy.

"Including myself and all people involved in the bid and Japan Football Association, we will accelerate and power up this communication."

Qatar

The Qatar bid will welcome FIFA inspectors Sept. 13 to 17, the final stop on the commission's two-month tour of the nine bids.

Hassan Al Thawadi, chief executive of Qatar 2022, told INSIDER: "The Qatar 2022 bid team is excited as we head into the last 100 days of the campaign.

"We are looking forward to hosting FIFA’s inspection team in mid-September as we feel we have a strong story to tell regarding our state-of-the-art football specific stadiums, comprehensive transport infrastructure, accommodation, and the player and fan experience.

"Perhaps the greatest challenge we face in the eyes of some is heat but we are 100% confident that we will show FIFA that we do have solutions for these challenges.

"Qatar would host the most compact World Cup in history, enabling fans to see more than one game in a day and stay in the same hotel or apartment throughout the tournament. This will save them time, money and hassle. Players would also be able to stay in a single base throughout the tournament with minimal travel between games, enabling them to focus 100% on playing and therefore contribute to higher quality football.

"Probably the area we are most excited about is the legacy of a Qatar World Cup, from new stadiums both in Qatar and developing nations, the sharing of our cooling technology with other countries who face challenges from heat, the huge commercial and football development opportunities for the global football family from hosting the World Cup in a region that will be over 700 million by 2022 through to the historic nature of the first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East and what this means for building greater understanding between east and west."

South Korea

Han Sung Joo, chairman of South Korea's bidding committee, told INSIDER: "With 100 days left before FIFA’s selection of the 2018/2022 World Cup hosts, we feel confident that we are making good headway in convincing the rest of the world that we, the Korean nation and people, are both passionate about and prepared to bring the World Cup 2022 to Korea.

"The 2022 World Cup in Korea promises to be a festival for a new generation, a new sport, and a new world.

"We are also proud of what Korea’s bid has accomplished over the last year. We have shown, through our submission of the bid book and the preparations made for the FIFA inspection team visit last month, that our passion for football, our infrastructure and organizational knowledge, will enable us to deliver a zero-risk, high-value added World Cup in 2022.

"Our major challenge ahead is to convince the FIFA Executive Committee members that it is imperative to stage the 2022 World Cup in Korea to bring lasting peace to the last divided country in the world. We seek to achieve reconciliation between the two Koreas and bring peace to Asia and the world. Another challenge we face is to increase the visibility of our bid in the international media.

"We also plan to invest even more in world football development and boost corporate social responsibility by establishing a Football Development Fund in close cooperation with FIFA and FIFA member associations. "

Written by Mark Bisson

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