World Cup 2018: Why England Is The Only Choice For FIFA

Not so long ago England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup was going swimmingly. At the time there was only ever going to be one winner. Then all of a sudden it all started to go wrong.

Back in May the can of worms well and truly opened when it was revealed that Lord David Triesman, the FA’s independent chairman, was revealed to have discussed bribery attempts by Spain and Russia to referees at the World Cup in South Africa. As a result he quit both the FA and England’s World Cup bid.

Not long after that the England national team performed woefully in South Africa at this summer’s World Cup, where the boos of the fans hardly helped England’s stock to rise.

Months later and as the bid day approached, it got even worse. At the start of November, an investigation by an English newspaper uncovered two FIFA members – Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarli – had been taking brides in exchange for votes.

Then the final nail in England’s coffin appeared to come from the BBC when they released a Panorama investigation which accused FIFA of taking bungs and essentially labeling them crooks.

However, despite all of this I still think that England’s bid is the most deserving of winning Thursday’s vote.

There are a number of reasons for this, but I think the main one is something that FIFA have said themselves. If FIFA decided to host the World Cup tomorrow, England would be ready to do so, the infrastructure is all there waiting to be used.

In Wembley, Old Trafford, the Emirates, Eastlands and St James’ Park, England have some of the best stadiums in the world. Not to mention there’s still Anfield, White Hart Lane and Stamford Bridge to name a few more, as well as the Olympic Stadium, which will be in place from 2012.

Not to mention that the English league is the biggest and most competitive on the planet and the quality of football that has come out of the country in recent years deserves reward.

You only have to look at the people backing the bid to see how much this means to the country. Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince William and David Beckham have been everywhere over the last few months promoting the bid, and as the decision edges nearer the three have been going out of their way to make a final impression. Surely this passion to host the tournament shows how good this World Cup would be?

Then there are the fans in England, who are some of the most passionate in the world. One thing you can guarantee about an English World Cup is that every game will be a sellout, no matter where it is. You won’t have anything like the half empty stadiums we saw in South Africa this year.

You only have to look back to Euro 96 to see how the country reacts to hosting a major tournament. It was a hugely successful event and a World Cup would be even bigger.

There are countless reasons the World Cup would be a great success in England, from the fact that the atmosphere will be incredible to the fact that it’s easy to get around meaning travelling between stadiums won’t be too taxing.

Ultimately, England is the home of football, and it deserves to host the biggest tournament in world sport.

At the risk of finishing on the cheesiest possible note, as the song says: “Football’s coming home.”