England's 2018 World Cup bid could be damaged by press conduct
A member of the team overseeing England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup has said the bid could be damaged by the English media's investigations into the conduct of FIFA's executive committee.
In October, two Sunday Times reporters posed as American lobbyists aiming to secure votes for the United States' bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
When approached by the reporters, two members of the executive committee, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Tahiti's Reynald Temarii, asked for £500,000 and £1.5million respectively, money that was to be invested
in football-related projects in their home countries.
FIFA, whose ethics committee is due to discuss allegations that the requests were made in exchange for votes on the US bid when it convenes 15–17 November, have previously denied that England's bid would
be affected by the affair.
But now, a member of the English bid team has said that the Times' investigation, which could be followed by a documentary by BBC's Panorama programme, has done irreparable damage to the country's reputation
with FIFA.
"The question is: can we recover from this? FIFA members feel they are being persecuted by the British media," the member, who spoke anonymously, told BBC Sport.
"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."
Last Friday, 29 October, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said that the conduct of the English press sets "traps for people," and that the body is considering potential ramifications for the scrutiny it faces
from English journalists.
Bid team could ask for editors' support
When London's bid to host the 2012 Olympics looked to be hampered by the conduct of the English press in 2004, the bid team asked the editors of all national newspapers and broadcasters to write to the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) declaring their support for the bid.
The 2018 bid team is said to be considering a similar move, but with the FIFA vote scheduled for 2 December, time is running out.
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