Asian Football Federation backs Iberian 2018 bid despite loan scare
Mohamed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), has said his body will vote for the Iberian bid to host the 2018 World Cup when FIFA's executive committee gathers on Thursday 2 December.
The announcement comes shortly after the Oceania Football Confederation also confirmed their support for Spain and Portugal's joint bid.
"Asia supports the Iberian bid," Hammam told the Press Association Sport.
The Iberian bid now has seven of 22 votes secured ahead of the ceremony, which is set to take place at FIFA's Zurich headquarters. Miguel Angel Lopez, chief executive of the bid, has claimed his team have secured eight votes already.
Hammam, a Qatari national, went on to deny that the allegations of collusion between his country's bid to host the 2022 tournament and the Iberian 2018 bid were without foundation.
"There's an excellent relationship between Asian football and Spanish football, we have done a lot of projects together, but that doesn't mean there has been a pact between us. It is something that happens between a lot of bids and it's
not at all illegal. Qatar is going to support Spain and Portugal and they will support us, but we're not breaking any rules."
Meanwhile, questions have been raised as to whether Spain and Portugal will be able to secure loans to build the stadiums necessary to host the tournament.
"If building these stadiums means taking on more debt, I fear that they won't happen," Angel Laborda, chief economist at Spain's Foundation of Savings Bank (FUNCAS) told
Bloomberg. "The government won't let them."
Chuck Blazer, the United States' representative on the executive committee, has also warned that high credit risk could be detrimental to the Iberian bid.
England, Russia and the Netherlands/Belgium are the other 2018 contenders, while United States, Qatar, South Korea, Australia and Japan are bidding to host the subsequent tournament in 2022.
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