Andy Anson puts pressure on the FA to change the World Cup bidding process - Part 1
England’s 2018 World Cup Chief Executive Andy Anson has come out and put pressure on the Football Association England so that they can raise their concerns in FIFA, regarding possible change to the World Cup bidding process. The
England 2018 bid fell through, losing out to Russia being knocked out in the first round of voting thanks to only 2 votes out of a total 22.
Russia in the second round went on to capture 13 votes which gave them an outright majority and thus succeeded in earning the rights to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The humiliating defeat for England has sparked all sorts of controversy
inside the FA and the English Premier League, both the organizations were supporting the 2018 England Bid. England’s 2 votes in the first round of voting came through, Geoff Thompson, their member in the FIFA Executive Committee and one other member whose
name has not been disclosed due to the secret balloting process.
Anson has come out and suggested that FIFA has reaffirmed its stance to host the World Cup in regions that have previously not had the honour. If this stance is to continue than the likes of England to host another World Cup are
slim to none possibly for the next 20-30 years.
Anson stated, "It's going to be 50, 60, 70 years before we have the World Cup again. That would be sad because it would be an amazing event. No one cares about football as much as England and it's sad that we're not even getting
close to having a World Cup here. If we knew that there was an agenda we would not bother bidding but there's no criteria saying '(breaking) new frontiers counts for 10 times more than anything'. They actually lose money when they go to these markets.”
He added, "The process needs to be more clearly defined in terms of what FIFA is looking for. If we'd known the defining factor is that going to new frontiers is going to be 90 per cent of the decision and only 10 per cent down
to whether it would be a good World Cup, if we'd known it was going to Russia or Qatar, or in the future China, we'd probably never have bid."
Anson also hinted at a regular change of representatives in FIFA’s Executive Committee. He said, "There are number of FIFA ExCo reps who have been there for 25 years, that's not healthy. I think we need to look at having term limits
or there won't be anyone coming in to change things. These are 22 guys who've been together forever and they're very protective of this very cushy lifestyle. But there is not going to be a World Cup bid for eight years and no-one has anything to lose. It might
be the time for big powerful countries - the USA, Australia, and Spain, we - who feel this, has been handled badly, to make their opinions felt.”
Anson went onto say, "It's tough but there's a real chance. If anyone is going to do it now is the time and we should act quickly." He also suggested that around five committee members minus Geoff Thompson had promised to vote
for England in the voting process but that was clearly not the case as the votes later on confirmed.
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