Last call for World Cup bid

Who’ll host the World Cup in 2018? Mired in fresh corruption allegations, FIFA officials are to vote this coming Thursday and competition is stiff for all four bidders.

Will the beautiful game return to its cradle, to England, the most lucrative candidate for FIFA and the most critical of the organisation’s shady practices? Or will Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other well-connected big guns with deep pockets carry the day for Russia? After all, this vast nation has never held the world’s second largest tournament before.

Or will we have “fun games” in Spain and Portugal, two popular tourist destinations with excellent venues and likely to be backed by FIFA’s powerful Latin America bloc?

Greatest legacy
And what are the chances for the Holland-Belgium bid? The Low Countries are sending their prime ministers and football legends to Zurich in a final effort to convince the Executive Committee that their bid will leave “the greatest legacy”.

Ruud Gullit, the president of the joint bid, says the outcome of the FIFA vote is anyone’s guess.

“There’s a lot of speculation about a whole lot of things. We don’t want to be involved in that discussion. I think we just have to see what’s going on with our bid. I think we have a very good bid, a very clear bid.”
FIFA’s reputation
That clarity, or transparency if you like, could work in Holland and Belgium’s favour. Just days before the crunch vote, a BBC documentary accused three prominent members of FIFA's executive committee of taking millions of euros in secret payments from a sports marketing firm. These allegations might well compromise the chances of the hot favourite, England, and swing the vote in favour of the Low Countries, reputedly the cleanest bidders.

Or the greenest. Two million bicycles will be freely available for football fans with tickets to travel to sustainable stadiums. These will have floodlights powered by wind turbines and pitches generating energy when players run on them.
Or the most compact and accessible. “We’re in the heart of Europe”, says the bid’s chief media officer, Rob de Leede.

“We have the key ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp and excellent airports in Amsterdam and Brussels. What’s more, once you arrive in our countries, there’s no need to board a plane anymore.”

Risk assessment
Yet despite these advantages, the joint Dutch-Belgian bid didn’t come out favourably in this month’s FIFA risk assessment report. It was the only one with a medium-risk assessment. Besides, football’s world governing body doesn’t appear too keen on a co-hosted event.
Gullit, however, maintains that Holland and Belgium deserve a chance, given their sterling track records:

“It’s a little bit strange that a three-time finalist who has consistently been in the top-ten of the World Rankings has never had the opportunity to organise the World Cup. The Belgians have a lot of good talent too. This would be a great chance for FIFA to show humbleness to the smaller countries.”
Amazing experience
Besides, Holland and Belgium have jointly organised successful championships before. Arsenal star Robin van Persie has fond memories of the European Championships held in the Low Countries a decade ago.
“In 2000, we had a really good experience, I was still a fan at that time, I watched all the games. It was an amazing experience. So, based on that, I would say: ‘Give it to us.’”