And the World Cup hosting right goes to: England out as Russia to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Despite England’s remarkable campaign and furious lobbying by Prime Minister David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William, they have lost the opportunity to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This certainly happened due to the controversial
Panorama investigation aired on BBC in which it was declared that three members of the FIFA committee were involved in bribe. FIFA vice president Jack Warner was accused of seeking to buy World Cup tickets to pass on to touts (details: he is accused of ordering
2010 World Cup tickets costing $84,240 from the FIFA ticket office, with the deal eventually falling through). England might have suffered a backlash of the ongoing scandal. These allegations and investigations continued and were criticized heavily by other
bid members. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticized the unfortunate incident followed by Angel Villar Llona, bid president for Spain/Portugal. Llona said, “I love my colleagues in FIFA, we have been criticized by media unfortunately. They say
that FIFA is not a clean institution. FIFA is an institute that honours honesty and all the members and my colleagues are honest and hard working.”
Last month, six FIFA officials were suspended due to Panorama investigations and three were alleged of taking bribes. England 2018 campaign has ended in controversy and a bitter defeat. The FIFA committee has given the 2018 World
Cup hosting rights to Russia over competing members Portugal/Spain and Netherlands/Belgium.
David Beckham, David Cameron, Prince William and Manchester City community program’s Eddie Afekafe were shocked to hear the decision made in favour of Russia. England, it seems, failed badly to convince FIFA members to host the
biggest sporting event on the planet. Perhaps this means England’s Football Association lacks leadership? It’s an hour of shame now for England as the three most influential men lost in a humiliating way. England staked everything on the bid but in the end
the decision was made in favour of Russia, despite the remarkable football facilities and infrastructure in England.
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