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FIFA to inspect Australia next week for WCup bid

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-22 09:50

CANBERRA - FIFA will visit Australia next week as part of a whirlwind two-month tour to inspect the candidate cities for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Australia's media reported on Wednesday.

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After starting in Japan on Monday the five-member FIFA team will move on to see South Korea, Australia, the Netherlands- Belgium (joint bid), Russia, England, Spain-Portugal, the United States and Qatar to view stadiums, facilities and presentations of the candidates.

Australia's four-day visit starts July 19.

After the inspections world soccer's governing body will draw up reports on the feasibility of each bid.

FIFA's 24 executives will choose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts on December 2 in Zurich.

On Monday the FIFA team, led by Chilean Football Federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls inspected a helicopter site in Osaka for an 83,000-seat stadium which would host the opening match and final.

The inspectors also included FIFA event management chief Juergen Mueller and marketing head David Fowler.

According to ABC News, Japan is counting on its organizational, financial and technological clout to win the 2022 event but may be disadvantaged after co-hosting the 2002 World Cup with South Korea.

In its bid book submitted to FIFA in May, Japan promised to treat football fans worldwide to ultra-realistic live three- dimensional broadcasts of matches.

Japan, like Australia, South Korea and Qatar, have submitted bids for 2022 only, while the others are seeking to host either 2018 or 2022.

"If Europe gets 2018, the continent will be excluded from the 2022 race," ABC reported on Wednesday.

Australia received something of a slap over the wrist when FIFA last week imposed tighter transparency rules on World Cup bidders in the wake of its investigation into the ethics of the country's 2022 bid.

It had come in the wake of a probe following reports that FIFA voters and their wives had been offered jewelry when in Australia while travel expenses had been proposed for football projects.

The ethics panel, chaired by former Switzerland international forward Claudio Sulser, is still to finalize its investigation into the behavior of Australia's bid team.