2018 FIFA World Cup bids: Was England's loss undeserved?
The 2nd of December was a much anticipated day for footballers, football fans and anyone with even a slight interest in football matters, as this was the day that FIFA was to announce which countries had won the race
to host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022.
Many eyebrows were raised when it was announced that Russia’s bid for 2018 had been successful, surpassing the likes of England, Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium to win the absolute majority of votes from the 22 members of the
committee. Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, branded England’s bid as “excellent and remarkable” – but only two out of the 22-member voting panel were convinced by the English proposition. Reports have emerged that the two voters were Geoff Thompson and
Issa Hayatou. Thompson is England’s own FIFA delegate, and Hayatou is the FIFA delegate from Cameroon who was named by the BBC program ‘Panorama’ in a corruption investigation concerning the world’s governing body of football.
England, which had been the country deemed by many to be the favourite to host the 2018 World Cup, was eliminated from the first round of voting, having acquired the least number of votes out of all the bidding countries. Russia
obtained nine votes in the first round, followed by seven for Spain/Portugal, and four for Netherlands/Belgium. The second round saw Russia win an absolute majority with a staggering thirteen votes, while Spain/Portugal followed with seven votes and Netherlands/Belgium
received only two.
The decision taken by FIFA has left England shell-shocked. The English media seemed to have been preparing for a victory, under the notion that England had been ‘promised votes’. Andy Anson, the English bid’s chief executive, told
the media after losing the vote that "David Dein, myself, David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William were looking people in the eye and asking them for their vote and being told ‘yeah’.”
Upon being pressed further, he refused to give out names but explained that the bidding team were under the impression that they had secured “more than six votes, perhaps seven or eight.”
It was perhaps easy for the English to have gotten carried away with their World Cup hosting dreams, since their technical bid and economic report were described as the most impressive out of all the countries. The sudden wave
of emotionally charged articles and comments in the press concerning ‘Russian corruption’ and mumbles of ‘oil-rich countries’ (The Daily Mail) are perhaps England lashing out. The country certainly has much to lament, having spent 15 million pounds on the
bid.
The question arises as to how England, a country known as the Mecca of football, and which hosts arguably the most popular football league in the world (the English Premier League), and which advertised the most impressive stadiums
for its bid, can claim to have been beaten by a greater show of wealth. A closer look into the English Premier League will reveal that it is perhaps the foreign owners and players that bring variety, excitement and flavour to the League. Billionaires such
as Roman Abramovich, who owns Chelsea, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the man who elevated Manchester City to become the richest club in the League, should receive the credit for being able to buy foreign players and pumping money into their clubs.
England perhaps need to take a closer look at the situation of football in their own country, before pointing fingers elsewhere. FIFA’s mission of staging the Cup in developing countries is a commendable one.
Losing the World Cup hosting bid is not England’s first disappointment in the football department this year. In the summer, the English team was unceremoniously knocked out of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, when the Germans
advanced to the quarterfinals at England’s expense. The England team scored only three goals during the tournament, two of which came from set-pieces. They managed to play a total of four matches and conceded five goals, an absolutely woeful statistic for
a country with such a long and passionate affiliation with the game.
The 2014 World Cup was already decided to be held in Brazil, a country that has produced some of the world’s most famous players, such as the legendary Pele, Carlos Alberto Torres, Ronaldinho, and Kaka. The 2022 World Cup will
be played in Qatar.
Tags: