FIFA visit northeast England on 2018 inspection

The six man team from FIFA, global football’s governing body, assessing England’s 2018 World Cup bid were set to head for the northeast on Tuesday.

England are keen to emphasise the scope of their bid, with Russia – regarded as their main rivals – having made much of the prospect of bringing the World Cup to a new country.

England’s bid chief executive, Andy Anson, in an echo of John Kennedy’s inaugural address on becoming president of the United States, said: “We will show a FIFA World Cup in England is not just about what it can do for England, but about what a FIFA World Cup in England can do for the rest of the world.”

Several presentations in London on Tuesday were to be followed by a boat trip on London’s River Thames before the inspectors flew over several proposed 2018 venues, including the new Olympic Stadium, Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Nottingham Forest’s City Ground and Elland Road in Leeds.

The inspection party will have more presentations upon their arrival in the northeast before visiting the Stadium of Light and St James’ Park, the home grounds of Sunderland and Newcastle respectively, on Wednesday.

England’s hopes of staging the tournament were boosted when FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has already praised Russia’s bid, said it would be “easy” to hold the competition in England.

Blatter, speaking to the insideworldfootball website, from Singapore on Monday, said: “The easiest way to organise the World Cup is to go to England.

“Everything is there — fans, stadiums, infrastructure — it’s easy.”

But as for Russia’s bid, he added: “You cannot deny Russia if they bid for something.

“They are more than a country. They are a big continent, a big power.”

The FIFA team was greeted by Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg at Downing Street on Monday and met with England manager Fabio Capello before taking a tour of Wembley Stadium.

Clegg told the delegation: “I believe this is an exceptionally strong, unbeatable bid. We in this government believe in it, we hope that you will believe in it.”

The FIFA team will head to Manchester on Wednesday, where they will finish their tour on Thursday.

England has staged the World Cup just once, in 1966, when it also won the tournament for the only time in its history.

They are also competing with the United States, and joint bids from Spain and Portugal, and Holland and Belgium to host the 2018 tournament.

The winning bids for the 2018 and the 2022 World Cup will be revealed on December 2. The 2014 tournament will be held in Brazil.