Blatter says Russian World Cup bid has ´good chance´

FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Thursday said he thought that Russia had “a good chance” of winning the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

“You have a good chance,” Blatter said in a meeting with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin here, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

“Russia made a very attractive bid.”

Blatter said that the Eastern European country had never hosted the World Cup before adding that this fact may become an additional forcible argument in the favour of Russia’s bid.

“Competitions of such a high rank should be hosted by countries that have never staged a World Cup before,” Blatter added.

“I had a chance to become acquainted with your plan of preparations for the hosting of the World Cup,” Blatter told Putin. “All of the documents that I have seen looked very impressive.”

Putin, whose support was key to Sochi winning the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, replied: “I think that organising a tournament of such prestige would without doubt provide a catalyst for the development of football in the whole of Eastern Europe and particularly in the former Soviet Union.”

On October 9 Russia presented their candidature for the right to organise the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022.

The executive committee of world football’s governing body FIFA will announce the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups at the end of 2010.

England, Australia, the United States, Indonesia, Japan and joint bids from Spain and Portugal and Belgium and the Netherlands are the other candidates for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, while South Korea and Qatar have bid only for the 2022 edition.

The 2010 World Cup will take place in South Africa, with five-time world champions Brazil hosting the tournament four years later.