Cameron promises global party at World Cup

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William led England’s final push for the 2018 World Cup here Thursday with voting just hours away.

Cameron and Prince William took centre-stage at FIFA headquarters in Zurich as English officials promised to make the 2018 tournament a global celebration which would leave a lasting legacy worldwide.

Cameron, who has shuttled between London and Zurich this week in a frenzied round of last-ditch lobbying, played up England’s readiness to host the tournament, emphasising already-built stadia and infrastructure.

“We have the passion and we have the experience to put on what we believe would be the most spectacular World Cup in history,” Cameron said.

“And because we have the stadia, because we have the infrastructure, we can concentrate on making a good World Cup a really great World Cup.”

Prince William described football as a “supremely powerful force for binding people together.”

“I love football, we English love football — that’s why it would be such an honour for us to host the 2018 World Cup,” he said.

The British royal also made a light-hearted reference to his forthcoming marriage to Kate Middleton. “We can deliver extraordinary public occasions — I certainly hope so as I’m planning quite a big one myself next year,” he said.

England faces stiff competition from Russia and a joint bid from Spain and Portugal, with Holland and Belgium regarded as an outsider.

The centre-piece of England’s bid is a promise to set up a global fund which will match contributions to FIFA development programmes worldwide.

England bid chief Andy Anson said 14 million people in more than 100 countries had benefited from development programmes over the past decade, a trend which would be accelerated by a successful World Cup bid.

“With the FIFA World Cup we see a bigger opportunity,” Anson said. “We want to combine the strength of English football with the power of the FIFA World Cup. A FIFA World Cup for the entire world.”

The global reach of English football was also repeatedly emphasised, with promotional videos highlighting the popularity of the Premier League around the world as well as the cosmopolitan nature of the domestic competition.