FIFA reports question World Cup co-hosting
Reuters - Tuesday 16 November 2010, 23:45
LONDON - FIFA has questioned the idea of
the World Cup being co-hosted in its technical reports on the
four bids for the 2018 tournament, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
The Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands bids were
criticised in FIFA's reports for being joint efforts, the BBC
said after it obtained a copy of the executive summary.
Russia's bid has been criticised over transport and
technology infrastructure while England's bid came under fire
over training venues and team hotels, it added.
Football's world governing body is due to make the reports on
the four bids public on Wednesday.
FIFA will choose the 2018 hosts on December 2 when it will also
decide who will stage the 2022 World Cup, where Japan, South
Korea, United States, Australia and Qatar are the candidates.
According to the BBC, the FIFA reports suggested that
co-hosting could be a problem for the Iberian bid.
"It should be noted that a co-hosting concept could pose
challenges regarding the joint operational delivery of the FIFA
World Cup in terms of ensuring consistent standards.
"Therefore in order to provide a more complete basis for
evaluation of the co-hosting concept, further key operational
details would be required," the BBC quoted the report as saying.
Government guarantees were also a concern for the joint bid
from Belgium and Netherlands.
"The necessary government support has not been secured as
neither the government guarantees nor the government declaration
have been provided in compliance with FIFA's requirements," the
BBC quoted the report as saying.
TRANSPORT PROBLEMS
According to the BBC, Russia has been given a low legal risk
grading with government support having been secured. However,
there were other worries.
"The country's vastness and its remoteness from other
countries, coupled with the fact that the high speed rail
network is limited and... would put pressure on the air traffic
infrastructure," the report was quoted as saying.
"Any delay in the completion of transport projects could
impact on FIFA's tournament operations and the proposed
installation of temporary facilities could impose a high cost
burden."
On England, the FIFA report said: "The bidder has not
contracted the required number of venue-specific training sites
or venue-specific team hotels."
"The bidder has contracted the required number of team base
camps (TBC) but has not contracted the required number of TBC
hotels.
"Additional training sites, likely to be selected from
England's existing range of professional club stadiums and
training sites, may have to be considered.
"The proposed TBC renovations would have to be ensured and
some pairings should be reviewed.
"In terms of accommodation, the bidder proposes a relatively
large inventory," the report added.
"However the fact that not many of the rooms have been
contracted in full compliance with FIFA's template hotel
agreement requires further analysis and potentially
renegotiation. FIFA could be exposed to excessive pricing.