23 November 2010

UEFA President Michel Platini has suggested changing the method World Cup hosts are selected in the wake of the 2018 and 2022 bidding scandal, citing the "pressure" on top officials.

 In an interview with Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, Platini -- a member of the executive committee of FIFA that selects the World Cup hosts -- acknowledged the growing economic stakes in sport's most popular event. "Maybe we can talk about that, what we can change in the way it is awarded," UEFA's president told the suggesting that such reforms could be considered after the current "bad period…"With a World Cup there's about 10 to 20 bn Swiss francs (US$10-20 bn) in it for each country." Platini suggested that the choice should be expanded beyond the current 24-strong FIFA executive committee to a vote of the 208 member associations or nations in world football's governing body. "Maybe one possibility is that the whole Congress decides, that way the weight of an individual would not be same as it is today," he explained. "But it's very complicated. FIFA has 208 associations. Europe has 53 votes, Africa has 53; South America, however, just 10 -- they would never get a World Cup." Platini also told The Independent that he believed that most of the 22 FIFA executive committee members who will vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts on December 2 have already made up their mind.

There have been fears that the Sunday Times and BBC Panorama probes into the world governing body have damaged England's bid but Platini, UEFA president and a FIFA vice-president, said the problem is long-standing. He said: "If they [the England bid] do not have a good feeling about FIFA, that's nothing to do with these investigations, but that comes from what the English press have been writing about FIFA for very many years. That could be a problem for the bid. But this? No.” Six officials were banned on Thursday for between one and four years for a number of offences resulting out of the Sunday Times investigation. Nigeria's Amos Adamu became the first FIFA member ever to be banned for bribery - he was suspended for three years. FIFA president Sepp Blatter also said he believes England's bid for the 2018 World Cup bid will not be damaged by the fall-out of the Sunday Times investigation. However, England's bid to stage football's World Cup in 2018 may suffer from a possible clash with the historic Wimbledon tennis tournament in June to July, according to FIFA's technical evaluation. "It is a FIFA requirement that no other major sporting event is hosted in a Host City during the event period and the fact that the Wimbledon tennis championships take place in London during late June/early July could have an impact on the public attention given to the FIFA World Cup," the evaluation report said. Dates for football's month-long showpiece event in 2018 have not been set but they have typically straddled those two months when it has been hosted by European countries. Wimbledon, the world's oldest tennis tournament, has been staged since 1877 over a two-week period in late June and early July. The hosts of both tournaments will be chosen simultaneously by FIFA's executive committee in Zurich on 2 December jcomments on}

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