Wednesday, December 1, 2010

David Beckham has faith in Fifa members

David Beckham insists he has "trust" in Fifa to judge England's 2018 World Cup bid on its merits ahead of Thursday's ballot in Zurich.
There are fears English media reports will have a negative effect on the vote of the 22 Fifa executive members.
But Beckham said: "I think that we can trust every one of the members.
"They are football people and they are going to want a World Cup in the best country that they think could host the biggest sporting event in the world."
Former England captain Beckham is in Zurich, along with Prince William and UK Prime Minister David Cameron, lobbying for votes.

"To have that weight behind the bid is a huge thing for us," said Beckham, who was also involved in London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics.
"The last 24 hours can be the most important without a doubt. I know how important it is to keep going right up to the decision."
Prince William's efforts have seen him meet Fifa's Rafael Salguero, Mohamed Bin Hammam and Chuck Blazer on Tuesday and Nicolas Leoz for breakfast on Wednesday, while Cameron returned to London for Prime Minister's Questions and was set to head back to Zurich.
On Wednesday, the five 2022 hopefuls - Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea and the United States - will make their final 30-minute presentations at Fifa headquarters before the 2018 bidders make their case on Thursday.
England face competition from Russia, Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium to win the right to hold the 2018 competition. The hosts for both 2018 and 2022 will be announced from 1500 GMT on Thursday.
Russia's bid will not be bolstered by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after his decision not to attend Thursday's vote.
Spain/Portugal could have to do without an appearance from Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who has an ankle injury.
The England bid team has criticised the decision by the BBC to broadcast the Panorama programme on Monday, only three days before the vote.
Allegations of corruption were made against Fifa vice-presidents Jack Warner and Issa Hayatou as well as Fifa members Leoz and Ricardo Teixeira.
Cameron has met Fifa president Sepp Blatter as well as holding talks with Warner and Hayatou, who both provided encouraging signs for England's bid on Tuesday.
"The prime minister understands the importance and power of football," said Warner.
"He reiterated his government's commitment to the World Cup and spoke extensively about England's legacy programme.
"Over the last decade England has supported all federations in their development activities and I commend the prime minister and the Football Association."

Hayatou has said that bribery claims made against him in the BBC documentary will not sway his vote. He strongly denies taking a bribe and has threatened to sue the BBC.
"There is a big difference between Panorama and my relationship with the England bid," said Hayatou. "There is no confusion in my mind."
Beckham, however, believes the effect of the BBC Panorama allegations against Fifa members has been overcome.
"I think the momentum is out there now, people have focused on the negative side of what has been said and we now are focused on the positive side," he said.
Panorama accused Hayatou, 64, of taking 100,000 French francs (£12,900) in 1995 from sports marketing firm ISL. The now-defunct business had been lobbying to gain lucrative rights from Fifa.
However, Cameroonian Hayatou has said the sum was in fact paid to the Confederation of African Football, which he heads, as part of a sponsorship deal.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said it will look into the bribery allegations because Hayatou is also a member of the IOC.

Allegations concerning Trinadad & Tobago's Warner revolved around Panorama saying it had seen e-mails and an invoice which showed he was involved in the procurement of $84,000 worth of 2010 World Cup tickets.
The e-mail trail suggests the tickets were destined for the black market but the planned deal - including 38 tickets for the final in Johannesburg - collapsed because the touts were not prepared to pay the asking price.
In 2006, Panorama revealed that Mr Warner had sold tickets on the black market for that year's World Cup tournament in Germany.
Fifa subsequently ordered Mr Warner's family business, Simpaul Travel, to make a $1m donation to charity to "compensate for the profits it had made through resale of 2006 Fifa World Cup tickets".
A BBC spokesman has said that the corporation will stand by the claims made in Panorama.
Meanwhile, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has said it will not be able to vote at Thursday's meeting after its delegate, Reynald Temarii, decided to appeal against his suspension from Fifa's executive committee.
Mr Temarii was suspended along with Amos Adamu of Nigeria, president of the West African Football Union, following an investigation by the Sunday Times, which alleged that they were prepared to sell their votes on the 2018 finals.
The acting president of the OFC, David Chung, had flown to Zurich expecting to take Mr Temarii's place on the executive committee. However, Fifa informed him that he could not do so while the appeal process was still continuing.
"Despite pressures and issues at stake for the OFC, I decided not to waive this fundamental right to restore my honour, dignity and integrity following the calumnious accusations I suffered from the Sunday Times," said Mr Temarii.
The hosting decision will now be made by 22 members of the executive committee following Temarii and Amadu's suspensions. Both men have denied the allegations.

No comments:

Post a Comment