FIFA Praises "Balanced" Japan World Cup Bid; S.Korea Ready for Scrutiny

(ATR) FIFA's team of inspectors praise Japan's 2022 World Cup bid as a "very balanced project" at the end of its three-day visit.

"The way the bid committee and the JFA prepared everything shows the professional way in which football is developing here, and the way in which they work and develop projects," head of the five-man delegation Harold Mayne-Nicholls told a press briefing on Thursday.

"Concerning Japan’s bid, I think it is a very balanced project mixing football traditions, new stadiums, new technology, eco projects and integration with the world—it includes everything."

The Chilean FA president gave a short statement about the FIFA inspection in a news conference at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Tokyo.

With eight more bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup to evaluate over the coming two months, Mayne-Nicholls was careful in his choice of words.

Any criticisms of the bids will only emerge in the evaluation reports the FIFA panel will prepare for the FIFA Executive Committee, which are due to be published in November.

During FIFA's visit to Japan, the delegation inspected various sites in Osaka and Tokyo, including Saitama Stadium, optional team hotels and potential fan fest sites.

The delegation attended a dinner hosted by Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan and sports minister Tatsuo Kawabata on Wednesday night. Also present were bid committee chiefs including chairman Motoaki Inukai.

Inukai, who is also president of the Japanese FA, told the news conference today that he was pleased with the outcome of the visit.

"Time was limited, but I am pretty pleased, that we were able to show that our stadiums and infrastructure meet all international standards, including environmental aspects, and the whole country is behind the bid," he said.

"We really want the FIFA World Cup to come back to our country. We did a lot of preparation. My conclusion is that we were successful in getting our ideas across."

FIFA arrives in South Korea

FIFA inspectors jetted from Tokyo to Seoul around 17:00 Japan time and arrived at Gimpo Airport just before 19.00 to begin the second leg of their tour.

The delegation is in South Korea for barely 48 hours before heading to Sydney on Saturday evening.

During the visit they will see the Seoul World Cup Stadium and the Ulsan Munsu Stadium, as well as prospective venues for FIFA Congress, FIFA HQ and fan fests as well as Korea’s national training centre in Paju, near the North Korean border.

Korea’s bid committee, led by former foreign minister Han Sung-joo, will formally present to the inspection team early on Friday morning.

Bid committee sources say they wish to impress three key factors upon the FIFA inspectors.

Firstly, how Korea’s "can-do spirit", which saw it transformed from an impoverished war-torn nation in the space of a generation, can be an inspiration to other countries throughout the world.

Secondly, that a Korean World Cup would represent a "zero risk, high value added" tournament. Organizers would seek to exploit the country’s experience in hosting international sporting events, its expertise in developing cutting-edge technology, as well as the full commitment of the government and the passion of the Korean people to stage a tournament of unprecedented success.

Finally, that the country seeks more than mere commercial benefits from hosting the tournament and that it wishes to promote peace on the Korean peninsula.

This has been an eye-catching aspect of South Korea’s bid and while some rivals have suggested that it is a mere rhetorical exercise, it overlooks the foreign policy expertise at the highest level of the bid committee.

As well as Han, the bid committee’s secretary general is Dae Won-suh, Korea’s longstanding former ambassador to the United Nations, who spent many years negotiating with his North Korean counterparts.

Nevertheless, the inspection comes at a time of increased tension with the North following March’s sinking of a Korean naval vessel. Earlier this week, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton visited the country and announced fresh sanctions against North Korea.

By World Football INSIDER's Mark Bisson and JamesCorbett

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