FIFA Says Australia Fully Prepared to Host 2022 World Cup

(WFI) Australia is fully prepared to organise the World Cup in 2022, FIFA’s inspection chief Harold Mayne-Nicholls said today at the end of a three-day visit.

But there was no wrap-up media conference scheduled, as Football Federation Australia maintained its clampdown on media following reports of misconduct by the bid in Melbourne newspaper, The Age. The FFA has since been cleared by the Australian government and FIFA.

Mayne-Nicholls delivered his inspection team’s verdict at the conclusion of its visit, noting Australia's history of staging major international events.

“We remembered such great moments in the history of sport in Australia when at the Olympic Stadium Cathy Freeman talked about her gold medal at the 2000 Olympics and when John Aloisi described his feelings before and after the penalty kick that took you to the World Cup in 2006,” he said in a statement.

“The visit to the Sports National Museum in Melbourne was very special and such a museum is for sure one of the best in the world.”

He said the inspection group was briefed on plans to deliver new first-class stadiums and to renovate existing stadiums, the implementation of volunteers programs and the improvements in telecommunications and transportation that will take place if the country's bid is successful.

“If the World Cup comes to Australia in 2022, it will be more than a football tournament with four important areas in social development, including the Oceania countries in this program,” Mayne-Nicholls said.

“We must conclude that this country seems to be prepared in all the aspects to organize the World Cup in 2022."

He thanked the Australian bid committee and the FFA on behalf of FIFA’s six-man inspection team, saying they “did an excellent job”.

“Also thanks to all of the community and the authorities that treated us in a wonderful way and to all the footballers boys and girls present at some inspection site visits and to the police that did a magnificent job,” he said.

He added: “About the visit, we all agree that it was organized in a very professional way.

“We could check different venues and stadiums, airports and transportation systems, conventions and congress centres and also had the chance to meet the sponsors of the bid and to hear about the economic and financial condition of Australia and some predictions about the situation for the region in future years.”

According to Mayne-Nicholls, the Australian government has shown full support for the bid process. He said he was impressed that representatives of the opposition were also present at a dinner reception hosted by Prime Minister Julia Gillard at Kiribilli House.

“The commitment of the country seems to be outstanding, taking into consideration that both parties, in the middle of an election process, made time to enjoy a wonderful evening with us,” he said.

“During the visit we had the chance to learn a lot about your country and especially about football in Australia. We are proud to know that programs such as Football United are used as a vehicle for social improvements that will help to build better communities.

“Also it was very impressive to read that the growth of football in Australia in the last decade has been 60 per cent and that at the moment there are more than 600,000 players registered.”

Heavy rain played havoc with an already-tight tour schedule for the FIFA delegation today. It forced the cancellation of a scheduled flight to Newcastle, but FFA officials took the opportunity to take the group on a quick visit to Sydney Wildlife World at Sydney’s popular Darling Harbour.

The delegates had their picture taken with a koala. Earlier in the day, they attended a breakfast meeting with some of country's leading business figures and were shown a presentation about the "commercial power of Asia and Australia’s role within the Asian commercial environment".

A display at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre gave the delegates a first-hand look at every city, region and stadium in the Football Federation Australia bid. Large colour images of the cities and the proposed stadiums were on display.

SCEC is Australia's largest venue for conferences and special events and could be used during a FIFA World Cup as a venue for the preliminary and final draw and also used to house the International Broadcast Centre.

“High-level representatives from the six state and territories involved in the bid were present to brief the delegates in person,” the FFA said.

Australia was the third stop on FIFA's tour of the nine countries that are bidding to host either the 2018 or 2022 tournaments. The inspection panel will next scrutinise the joint bid from Holland-Belgium in a visit beginning on Aug. 9.

Australia miss out on Bin Hammam’s vote
While FIFA delegated were wrapping up their visit there was some unwelcome news from elsewhere in the region for Australian bid officials.

Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam publicly backed Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid at the inaugural Soccerex Asian Forum in Singapore. It's the first time he has publicly declared his intentions to vote for the Middle East nation ahead of the three other Asian candidates in the running for 2022, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

“I have one vote...and frankly speaking I will vote for Qatar, but if Qatar is not in the running I will vote for another Asian country,” Hammam told reporters.



By Anthony Stavrinos in Sydney

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