http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/blatter-tips-europeans-as-2018-cup-hosts-20100126-mwd4.html
Blatter tips Europeans as 2018 Cup hosts
AUSTRALIA'S hopes of hosting the 2018 World Cup have been dealt a blow, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter indicating only European bids may be considered.
Australia is one of several nations bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, but Blatter has told a media conference in Madrid a plan to bring the 2018 version to Europe is being examined. Blatter says he has talked over a European-only deal with UEFA president Michel Platini in Moscow in the past few days.
''There is a movement at the moment among the various candidates that in the end it would be a good solution
if the candidates for 2018 would only be those from Europe,'' Blatter said at a news conference. ''It's not been finally decided but it's the idea, also to make the work of FIFA easier and especially that of the executive committee.''
That means the 2022 World Cup is looking increasingly likely to be Australia's best chance of hosting the world's biggest single-sport event.
Football Federation Australia chief Ben Buckley yesterday played a dead bat to suggestions Australia's bid to host the 2018 Cup could be doomed.
Buckley said the FFA had not heard anything about a policy change by the game's governing body, which would have to ratify such a significant alteration of the bid process at an executive committee meeting.
''We have not had any notification of any changes. Until we hear to the contrary, we are continuing with our bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cups. If FIFA policy does change, then clearly we would have to consider our approach and if that meant we had to concentrate on 2022, then that is what we would do. But we have not heard anything about a change, and until we do we will campaign for both.''
A large field of countries is bidding for the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as a result of FIFA's decision to allocate both tournaments at the one time. FIFA's executive committee is due to make a final recommendation on both tournament venues in December this year. In the past, it has allocated the tournament one World Cup at a time.
Blatter's indication that only European bids may be considered for the 2018 tournaments would mean England and Russia, who are mounting separate bids, and Holland/Belgium and Spain/Portugal, who are running joint ticket candidacies, would have the field to themselves.
Countries such as the US, Australia, Qatar, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia, who are bidding for one or both of the competitions, would then have to focus their energies on 2022.
Candidates must submit bid documentation by the end of May and FIFA will study those in June before sending out its specialists to assess whether those nations can organise a successful World Cup. Should FIFA opt to split the bidding process on geographical lines it might not make too much difference in the long term.
While Australia is optimistic that it is a good chance to win the 2018 tournament and has caught the eye of bookmakers, who rate its prospects positively, the common view is that the competition is almost certain to be staged in Europe, the economic and historical heartland of the sport.
With the 2010 World Cup in Africa and the 2014 in South America (Brazil) it is highly unlikely the moneymen of the game would want the biggest event in global sport to be staged out of its heartland - where crowds are enormous and TV companies pay huge rights fees - for three tournaments in a row.
When Australia first signalled its interest in bidding to host a World Cup several years ago, FIFA had not decided to allocate the 2018 competition and the 2022 version at the same time.
At the time Australia began canvassing support and lobbying for what eventually became $45 million worth of Government funding to bankroll the bid, the campaign for the 2018 tournament was widely seen as a practice run, a stalking horse through which a nation lacking a compelling football history could establish its bona fides and credibility as a host. Back then 2022 was seen as a more realistic target.
Australia would face stiff opposition from the US to host the 2022 tournament, with the lures for FIFA being the huge Asian market or the last great unconquered outlet for the sport.
