Football will not be coming home in eight years time, after it emerged England had gone out in the first round of voting. Instead Fifa today announced that Russia had won the race to host the 2018 World Cup.
A glum England bid team, including Boris Johnson and Gary Lineker, retreated to the back of the hall as it emerged that England had been knocked out in the first round.
A late final lobbying push led by the prime minister David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William and a well received final presentation was not enough to avoid a humiliating exit and spark huge recriminations.
The final stages of the race have been marked by allegations of corruption and collusion that led to a backlash against the British media among some Fifa executives.
But other contributory factors may have included the fact that England lack a dynamic political operator at the top level of the world game and the year lost at the beginning of the bid to internal infighting.
The decision will come as a bitter blow to the Football Association, which has spent £15m on the bid at a time when it is under financial pressure.
This week's last ditch lobbying effort marked the end of a rollercoaster campaign punctuated by bitter internal rows, boardroom upheaval, triumphant set pieces and corruption allegations.
A Sunday Times investigation that led to the suspension of six senior Fifa officials, including two executive committee members, and a Panorama documentary that implicated four more sparked a desperate damage limitation exercise from the England bid as they tried to contain a furious backlash from executive committee members.
Despite the impact of Monday's BBC Panorama programme, which included fresh allegations against Jack Warner and Issa Hayatou, both targeted by England, the bid team became more upbeat as the week wore on.
England's compelling presentation this morning, in which 27-year-old Manchester City community worker Eddie Afekafe arguably stole the thunder of the prime minister David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William, condensed the pitch that England have been trying to sell for months amid the corruption and collusion claims.
Aware that they couldn't offer to take the World Cup to new territories, they concentrated on the atmosphere and facilities of the English game, promised record profits for Fifa and attempted to articulate a vision for a global football development fund.
The presentation, overseen by the same marketing director who masterminded London's successful pitch to win the Olympics in Singapore in 2005, was designed to drive home those core themes.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder