Blatter welcomes England cup bid

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Blatter welcomes England cup bid

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ls/4208814.stm

Blatter said he would welcome a bid from "the homeland of football" and claimed they could take advantage of facilities used in the 2012 Olympics.

He said: "I would say yes, they should bid - it is the homeland of football.

"They are building stadia and other facilities for the Olympics, Wembley is almost finished and maybe they would be used for a World Cup bid."

South Africa are hosting the 2010 tournament and under Fifa's rotation policy the 2014 World Cup will be in South America, almost certainly Brazil.

The tournament should return to Europe in 2018 so formal bids will have to be launched in 2010, two years before the London Olympics.

Blatter is also an International Olympic Committee member and he is thought to have voted for London.

Although he would not disclose his choice, he admitted he was happy with the outcome of the vote in Singapore in July.

He added: "I voted for football and from a football point of view I'm very happy about the decision taken.

"Sir Bobby Charlton, Sven-Goran Eriksson and David Beckham were in Singapore as London 2012 ambassadors and this was a very positive reflection for us."

Four years ago, relations between Blatter and the FA were strained - then chief executive Adam Crozier was one of his fiercest critics in the heated presidential campaign - but harmony has now been restored.

Blatter met current FA chief executive Brian Barwick in London on Thursday, as well as Premier League chairman Dave Richards and sports minister Richard Caborn.

Barwick said recently there was no reason why England should not bid for the 2018 World Cup and Blatter confirmed he was back on good terms with the FA.

He admitted: "We need the FA, it's a very powerful and respected association, the oldest in the world - it has a certain aura."

Caborn said a bid would be given serious consideration.

He said: "We are not ruling anything in or anything out. The time when we have to make a decision is still a long way off.

"We will give it serious consideration and any decision will have to be made in consultation with the FA. At the moment however, we are concentrating on 2012."

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Blatter wants England to host the World Cup in 2012 after the facilites being in place after the olympics. I think they will get it too :eek: What does everyone think ?? Good or bad ?

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

Good or bad ?

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Both :o

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

Blatter wants England to host the World Cup in 2012 after the facilites being in place after the olympics. I think they will get it too :eek: What does everyone think ?? Good or bad ?

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Eh no, 2018 actually. How could they host both the WC and Olympics in one summer? :confused:

Good thing for Ireland if they qualify. Players would be familiar with venues. Easy travel for our support. Easy travel even for neutral games if we didn't make it. Sympathy from the locals neutral too (I think).

good for us alright... would it only be in England though or would scotland wales and Northern Ireland get some of the matches ?

Im sure if we have some of our stadium and training facilites up to scratch we can attrack some of the teams for training sessions before the world cup starts proper. Like our Saipan pre Japan except no car parks as football pitches.

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

Eh no, 2018 actually. How could they host both the WC and Olympics in one summer? :confused:

Good thing for Ireland if they qualify. Players would be familiar with venues. Easy travel for our support. Easy travel even for neutral games if we didn't make it. Sympathy from the locals neutral too (I think).

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Yeah! Just like it was when we qualified for the '96 European championships! :rolleyes: Why is it that Ireland can't qualify for tournaments nearer to home and end up travelling to the US and Japan. Incidently, I thought that FIFA were doing a rotation system with the WC which would mean that North America would be due to host the event in 2018 or are Europe always going to get extra tournaments?

Europe is the birthplace of football and its followed here far more than anywhere else in the world so we have a right to hold it more.

I think Irelands qualification headaches is more to do with lack of planning and preperation than anything else.

Sure they'll proberly be the holders of the world cup anyway if their media is anything to go by after their great win against the mighty Wales. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Kerry Blue

Yeah! Just like it was when we qualified for the '96 European championships! :rolleyes: Why is it that Ireland can't qualify for tournaments nearer to home and end up travelling to the US and Japan. Incidently, I thought that FIFA were doing a rotation system with the WC which would mean that North America would be due to host the event in 2018 or are Europe always going to get extra tournaments?

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the americas is one continent

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Originally Posted by anto eile

the americas is one continent

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Actually it isn't. As for football it definitely isn't. CONCACAF is the confederation which governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, while CONMEBOL governs South American football. FIFA have now a tendancy to award the hosting of a WC to a particular confederation and then countries from within that confederation compete for the hosting of the event. So the 2014 World Cup will be played in South America (CONMEBOL) with Brazil being the likely hosts.

Actually Johannson, when he was the main man in UEFA (I don't think he still is but I could be wrong), was the first to moot spreading it round ALL confederations in rotation. It makes some sense though to have Europe get it slightly more than once every 4/5 (I think they now get 1 in three, counting USA as a starting point for these changes). Mainly because of the greater interest/facilities/and number of qualifiers.

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New-found confidence can help England's 2018 World Cup bid
16/09/2005 - 13:43:35
http://breaking.tcm.ie/2005/09/16/story221156.html

Tessa Jowell believes a sense of “national self-confidence” that has sprung from London’s 2012 Olympic victory could help an England bid for the 2018 World Cup.

The Football Association have confirmed they are pushing ahead with exploratory talks about a bid for the tournament – but have denied a report they will launch a ‘dry run’ for the 2014.

FA chief executive Brian Barwick has already made known they have identified the tournament in 2018 as a possible target and Jowell, the secretary of state with responsible for sport, believes the Olympic effect is important.

Jowell told journalists in London: “We are in a different place on the world stage now in relation to sport and the sense of national self-confidence about our ability to hold the world’s great sporting events is unbounded.

“We can host a World Cup, we can host a world athletics championships and other world-class sporting events on the back of the Olympics and I hope very much we do.

“It is impossible to launch a bid like this unless there is very clear and strong government support. The FA are quite rightly at a very early stage of taking soundings.”

FIFA have already said the 2014 World Cup will be held in South America under their rotation system, and the FA today denied a report saying Barwick had had talks with the Treasury about a 2014 bid.

An FA spokesman said: “Reports that the FA are planning to bid for the 2014 World Cup are inaccurate. Brian Barwick has not discussed this issue with Gordon Brown.

“The FA has said publicly that we are serious about a possible bid for the 2018 World Cup and FIFA president Sepp Blatter has also spoken very positively about the idea of the World Cup coming back to England that year.”

Blatter earlier this month said he would welcome a bid from “the homeland of football” for 2018.

Blatter told PA Sport: “I would say yes, they should bid – it is the homeland of football.

“They are building stadia and other facilities for the Olympics, Wembley is almost finished and maybe they would be used for a World Cup bid.”

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The odds must be shortening of England getting it IMO

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

The odds must be shortening of England getting it IMO

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indeed. plus, which countries could rival England in a European bid? France, Germany and Italy have all recently held the WC, and Spain was in 1982, which is possibly still too close. I don't know who else could possibly put up as strong a bid as England. Maybe Russia, but its doubtful. Maybe a joint bid from the Scandanavian countries, but that would still be difficult and spread over four countries.

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

would it only be in England though or would scotland wales and Northern Ireland get some of the matches ?

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Not a hope. England alone. They don't need anyone's help, and FIFA probably wouldn't let them anyway.

i bet they could swing it if Great Britain and northern ireland fielded one team

If England do get it , then I would put money on Russia getting one of the next two Euro championships (after Austria/Swiss). For a country of its size to have only held the Euro championships is a poor return.

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

i bet they could swing it if Great Britain and northern ireland fielded one team

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Not a chance. I think an exception is being made for the Olympics.

Russia will hardly get the world cup because

Its too cold most of the time or too hot

Terrorists

Lack of backing from other countries

poor facilities and infastructure

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

Russia will hardly get the world cup because

Its too cold most of the time or too hot

Terrorists

Lack of backing from other countries

poor facilities and infastructure

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Careful now.

What do you mean by terrorists?? :confused: ;)

careful ? ?

I meant those fellas with the ballaclavas and ak-46's treatening to cause mayhem

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

careful ? ?

I meant those fellas with the ballaclavas and ak-46's treatening to cause mayhem

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Do you mean Chechen rebels or Russians in general?? I said I won't take racism in this forum and stereotyping is a form of it.

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Originally Posted by superfrank

I said I won't take racism in this forum and stereotyping is a form of it.

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...but national stereotyping is so much fun!!! Like, Italian men all have slicked back greasy hair, Belgium is boring, Americans are dumb, Germans have no sense of humour... :D :eek:

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Originally Posted by superfrank

Do you mean Chechen rebels or Russians in general?? I said I won't take racism in this forum and stereotyping is a form of it.

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I mean Russia has not been the most stable country since the fall off communism. There is a whole range of problems in Russia which I shouldnt go into since this is a football forum. Im not sterotyping anyone. They have problems with the republics wanting independence, they have the russian mafia which has mushroomed since post communism. There is numerous groups (including Al Quidea among other) who may want to set of bombs in Russia to highlight their cause..

This is gone off thread... my point was that Russia have less of a chance of hosting the World Cup than the likes of England.

Ok but any country in Western Europe would run a very high risk of being bombed. I think the whole rotation system is fair. I think in 2014 it's South America, then Asia in 2018. There's not much hope of them getting the WC until 2022.

The whole rotation around the world seems unfair... i know everyone should be allowed to host the world cup but Europe should have preference since its the home of football and where football is played at the highest level.

There's a pretty high level in South America. Brazil, Argentina and Mexico all have really good leagues and national teams.

what is football like in Asia and north America ? Is it grown a lot there ?

I don't know. According to most Americans it is and with your man Freddy Adu coming through matches have been selling out over there and they've been getting higher TV ratings.

I haven't a clue about Asia.

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Originally Posted by superfrank

I don't know. According to most Americans it is and with your man Freddy Adu coming through matches have been selling out over there and they've been getting higher TV ratings.

I haven't a clue about Asia.

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as far as i know it is pretty big in japan, south korea and becoming popular in china.

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Originally Posted by superfrank

I don't know. According to most Americans it is and with your man Freddy Adu coming through matches have been selling out over there and they've been getting higher TV ratings.

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Football (soccer) is becoming more popular, but they're not selling out matches (apart from the very odd one). Freddy Adu hasn't been that good this season apparently. However it is being shown a lot more on TV which is a big change. Also, their youth and school structure is amazing. I played in a kick around on Saturday (in DC) and there were acres of other games being played at the same time (from u-10s to about u-18s, mostly boys but also girls).

Its progressing slowly, but MLS is still struggling to compete for attention with the four major sports. The real interest is in their grassroots setup. The local (upstate NY) TV station showed highlights from about 6 or 7 high-school soccer matches. The technique of the players ranges from good to 'a bit rigid' to dreadful, but the sheer numbers who are interested in playing and developing the sport should mean that from now on the US mens national team will be competitive in world football (as evidenced by their 2002 World Cup performance).

I also think I heard that the US Federation want to host the world cup again. Basically because they think it would be able to capture the public's imagination the way it didn't in 1994.