Australia pull out of 2018 race
England’s chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup have been slightly boosted as previous outsiders Australia have withdrawn.
The Aussies had been rumoured to have considered pulling out for some time as FIFA are said to favour a return to Europe for the 2018 event. However, they will still be bidding for the 2022 tournament.
Frank Lowy, Football Federation Australia chairman, said: “We have been in discussion with Fifa for months and it is that trusting relationship with the leadership of the governing body that has caused us to focus on 2022 and decide to leave the field for 2018 to European contenders.”
Jerome Valcke, FIFA secretary general, said: “It became apparent that there was a growing movement to stage the 2018 World Cup in Europe. The FFA [Football Federation Australia] has displayed an exemplary level of solidarity with Europe and the European bidding nations. Their announcement, therefore, to henceforth focus solely on bidding for the 2022 Fifa World Cup is a welcome gesture that is much appreciated by Fifa’s leadership and executive committee. We wish to thank the FFA and the Australian Government.”
Australia will now be up against Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Indonesia and the USA, if the 2018 bid is won by a European nation as expected.
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I think that Australia should host the 2018 or the 2022 world cup because they hosted the 2004 olimpics very sucsefully, and they seem right to host this world cup because it’s not a problemetic country and they haven’t hosted the world cup before. So good luck to them!