England 2018 World Cup bid “significantly harmed”
With four weeks to go until Fifa announces who will host the 2018 World Cup finals, it appears that England’s chances may have been irreversibly damaged.
The BBC report that a senior member of England’s World Cup bid team has revealed the Sunday Times’ probe into alleged Fifa corruption has “significantly harmed” their chances of hosting the tournament.
Allegations surfaced last month that two key members of Fifa’s executive committee offered to sell their votes, which subsequently led to the individuals in question being slapped with provisional suspensions.
But it appears that the Sunday Times’ exposure of the scandal could backfire on England, with Russia now the frontrunners to host the tournament in just under eight years time.
"It isn't dead and the next two or three weeks will be delicate but England's bid has been damaged and it's going to take a lot of hard work to repair that damage," the senior member is quoted as saying by the BBC.
The vote will take place on December 2nd and with Fifa apparently feeling persecuted by the British media, there’s speculation that the BBC may postpone a Panorama programme about the alleged corruption scandal in fear of the bid being derailed.
However, it could be too late to salvage England’s chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup judging by Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s comments about the Sunday Times and the British media in general.
"One can ask whether such an action is appropriate, trying to set traps for people. It is a deeply rooted problem [with the English media]," Blatter said last Friday.
"Who is benefitting from this situation and who is being harmed, we are asking ourselves why did it happen and why did it happen specifically by English journalists? We are looking at that."
Asking every national newspaper editor to write to Fifa declaring their support for England’s bid could well be futile, but this would appear to be the final throw of the dice of England’s now-desperate bid team.
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