U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown teamed up with David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and other English soccer stars on Monday to launch England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.The United States, Russia, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico and Japan are also entering bids, and Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and Belgium may make joint bids.
FIFA's executive committee will choose the host in December 2010.
"If we can secure the football World Cup in England in 2018, it will be the greatest sporting decade our country has ever seen," said Brown, who was joined by Beckham, Rooney and members of England's 1966 World Cup championship team to promote England's bid at the ceremony Monday at Wembley Stadium.
London is set to host the 2012 Olympic Games, the 2014 Commonwealth Games will happen in Glasgow, and England has also bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the Cricket World Cup in 2019.
England hasn't played host to the World Cup since winning it in 1966. The country bid for the 2006 World Cup but it was a flop that saw England win only five votes.
"I am proud to support, encourage and advocate the official launch of the England 2018 bid," Brown said. "I do so as a football fan, as someone who watches football all the time, and I believe it is right for England to host the World Cup. Building on the success of Euro '96, we have the stadiums, the infrastructure to host the greatest football tournament in the world."
Beckham, who is currently on loan to AC Milan by the Los Angeles Galaxy, was part of London's campaign for the 2012 Olympics.
"I've played with some of the biggest and best [players] in the world and all they talk about is the passion and atmosphere that is shown at England games and games against teams from England," Beckham said.
"We, as a country, are always ready for big competitions. If someone was to say next week we'll stage a tournament in England, I don't think there are many other countries who would be ready to facilitate that."
No comments:
Post a Comment