Frenzied lobbying as World Cup D-day looms

The frenzied race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups entered the home straight here Wednesday as rival bids prepared to make final presentations on the eve of the scandal-tainted election.

The five countries battling for the 2022 football extravaganza – Australia, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Qatar – were to showcase their bids in 30-minute pitches to voters at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

High-powered delegations from the countries slugging it out for the 2018 tournament meanwhile were engaging in frantic last-ditch lobbying before making their own presentations on Thursday.

Russia has emerged as the bookmakers favourite in the final days before the vote, pulling clear of England and a joint bid from Spain and Portugal. A Dutch-Belgian bid is regarded as a long-odds outsider.

However England are pulling out all the stops with Prime Minister David Cameron, heir to the throne Prince William and football icon David Beckham networking relentlessly with FIFA delegates.

Cameron met FIFA President Sepp Blatter on Tuesday before holding talks late into the night with five other members of the 22-strong executive committee which will vote in Thursday’s ballot.

The British leader was to fly back to London from Zurich to participate in Prime Minister’s questions in parliament before jetting back to Switzerland later Wednesday to resume campaigning.

English hopes have been rocked by several media reports alleging corruption within FIFA which are expected to trigger a backlash among voters.

A Sunday Times investigation snared two FIFA members apparently offering to sell their votes in exchange for cash. Both officials were later suspended by FIFA and will not take part in the vote.

On Monday, BBC documentary Panorama accused three more FIFA executive committee members of involvement in a decade-old corruption scandal.

A fourth FIFA member, Trinidadian official Jack Warner, seen as a key figure for English hopes, was accused by the programme of trying to sell World Cup tickets on the black market.

However Warner, head of the North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) federation, had warm words for the English campaign following his meeting with Cameron.

“The British Prime Minister understands the importance and power of football,” Warner said. “He reiterated his government’s commitment to the World Cup and spoke extensively about England’s legacy programme.

“Over the last decade England has supported not only CONCACAF but all federations in their development activities and I must commend the Prime Minister and the FA for that.”

While England’s lobbying effort is being spearheaded by Cameron, it remained unclear whether Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would arrive in Zurich for the final hours of campaigning.

FIFA’s executive committee will cast votes in a series of ballots starting at 2:00 pm local time Thursday (1300 GMT) until one bid has received an absolute majority.

Blatter has admitted that the decision to stage the votes for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments at the same time was a mistake, raising the probability of collusion between bidders.

While Russia has emerged as the narrow favourite in the 2018 race, the 2022 ballot has been harder to read, where the United States, Australia, and Qatar are the front-runners ahead of Japan and South Korea.

The United States bid, which will be boosted by the arrival of former President Bill Clinton in Zurich, was buoyed by a report from management consultants McKinsey, which gave their campaign a 100 percent rating for projected profitability.

The study assessed each bid in five key revenue areas: ticketing, TV and media rights, sponsorship, hospitality, and merchandising.

While the United States came out on top, the Australia bid was ranked last out of the 2022 contenders with 68 percent.

Australian hopes received another setback Tuesday when it was confirmed that the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) would not be represented at Thursday’s vote because its president refused to drop his appeal against suspension.

OFC chief Reynald Temarii, one of the two FIFA executives suspended after the Sunday Times corruption investigation, said he planned to press on with attempts to overturn his ban.

The move is a blow to Australia’s chances of success, as the OFC had pledged to support Football Federation Australia’s bid.