U.S. Trims List of Possible World Cup Sites
Friday, August 21, 2009
By Jack Bell
The committee leading efforts to bring the 2018 or 2022 World Cup tournament to the United States pruned the list of possible cities on Thursday to 27 in the third stage of its evaluation process.
At total of 38 cities submitted detailed information to the U.S.A. Bid Committee before the end of July.
“The U.S.A. .Bid Committee is pleased to have received comprehensive responses from city officials and local organizing committees across the United States,” Sunil Gulati, the chairman of the committee and president of U.S. Soccer, said in a statement. “The overwhelming interest and creativity shown by the candidate cities made our extensive review process that much more difficult in narrowing down the list.”
The cities dropped were: Birmingham, Ala.; Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Fayetteville, Ark.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Las Vegas; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Pittsburgh; Salt Lake City; and San Antonio, Tex.
The United States is among a group of countries seeking to host the World Cup that includes Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Russia. Each of those countries has applied to host either the 2018 or 2022 tournaments. It is believed that England (which hosted and won the 1966 World Cup) has the inside track for 2018. The Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain have each submitted joint bids for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. Qatar and South Korea have applied as candidates to play host only to the tournament in 2022.
FIFA will name the hosts for 2018 and 2022 in December 2010.
Is England the sentimental favorite for 2018? And if England does get the World Cup does it mean the U.S. is at the top of the list for 2022, or might FIFA (as it did in 1994 in the U.S.) award the tournament to a country like Australia, where the game remains a relatively minor sport? {#}
Labels: FIFA 2010
posted @ 2:33 PM,
0 Comments:
Post a Comment