2018 England

In an interview with BBC News 24’s Hard Talk programme shown on Tuesday the 13th of November. UEFA President Michel Platini has told the BBC he is far from certain that England deserve to host the 2018 World Cup finals, saying he needed to be convinced.

Platini said:

“I hope for you it will be England but at the moment I have nothing to say… If there are two or three European countries going to bid, they all have to convince me. I am the president of UEFA, I can’t say I will vote for England, I will vote for Russia, or I will vote for the Netherlands…. I will vote for one European country, of course, and I will bring all my strength to bring all the European countries to vote for one, and to maybe help. I will do my job… But why England, why not Russia or the Netherlands? We will look.”

Securing European backing for an English 2018 bid will be crucial to their chances of hosting the tournament. England failure in the bid for the 2006 World Cup bid was greatly influenced by a lack of support after the gentleman’s agreement to not bid against Germany was broken.