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Australia drops 2018 World Cup bid

Australia has pulled out of the race to host the 2018 World Cup after Asia threw its support behind Europe.

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Australia has pulled out of the race to host the 2018 World Cup and will instead focus on the 2022 tournament.

FIFA and Football Federation Australia made the announcement on Thursday in a joint statement.

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke says the Australians “were among the very first to enter into an open and constructive dialogue with me after it became apparent that there was a growing movement to stage the 2018 World Cup in Europe.”

The withdrawal follows Asian Football Confederation president Mohammad bin Hammam officially throwing his support behind Europe as 2018 host, despite one of its own members (Australia) still being in the running.

The United States is also bidding to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

Source: Associated Press

16 Responses

  2. Richard, once again, I was talking about the Australian ALeague season and that alone. They might try and spin things to say they play by a more widely used timetable but it is complete and utter crap.

  3. Anyways who cares??

    I’d rather watch the paint dry or grass grow. Only my opinion 🙂

    I really don’t think soccer will last much longer professionally in Australia anyway. It seems all the clubs are broke and not enough support. It never has and probably never will take off here – we have too many other ball sports.

    The WC would be good for tourism and infrastructure.

    BTW why are we talking about this on a TV site??

  4. @craig & Ararat: I’ll trust what you’re saying, seeing as my info is based off passig commets I’ve heard on tv news programmes. I’m glad that soccer and Aussie rules football in Vic came to an agreement.

    I would hope that the state of origin doest get a change in date; it’s healthy Comprtition to have 2 sports comps going at the same time.

  5. @League Freak: The FIFA World Cup is always played out the “traditional season” because the main season for football in Europe and many other parts of the world including Australia is from August to May. World Cup is always June-July.

    Therefore, A-League is played in summer because it makes it easier to follow the FIFA international calendar. Yes you are right, it is also so it doesn’t have to compete with NRL and AFL cause it can’t compete with these more established sports. But A-League was never meant to rival the other codes, its simply a different sport, you can follow or not.

    I like League and AFL but it doesnt stop me from liking football (soccer) as well, so please don’t put down a sport for your sporting religious belives, you should embrase it. Its only for 1 month and a once in a lifetime thing if Australia do get it in 2022.

  6. Ararat, I’m talking about soccer in Australia little buddy. if you think it is ideal to play a sport like soccer during an Australian summer, well, you must not be from around here.

    Also, I am right in the fact that the A League is played in summer because it would not stand up to the competition from the NRL and AFL. Its an age old thing in Australia for minority sports. Move to summer so you only have to compete with Cricket. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn’t.

    You can bet your bottom dollar that if they could, rugby union in Australia would also switch to summer. Anyway try selling to Fifa that a country of 21 million with a competition played out of the traditional season, with no many teams, most of which are broke, many of which are so close to shutting down its not funny, is really desperate to secure the soccer world cup.

    Its a laugh, especially when you consider that there are a lot of very rich backers for other countries that could just about buy all the Fifa votes single handedly and build as many stadiums as is needed. As for the TV thing…..please. We all know where the TV money for soccer is, and for that, we are in the worst time zone possible. Hell there were even problems in that regard when Japan hosted it! I want to have the soccer world cup here myself. I think it would be great, and the upgrades to facilities is something the sport I favour would gain a lot from.

    I’m just realistic, thats all.

  7. @Paull, you have no idea what you’re talking about. At all. Year long ban, hahaha, where on earth did you pull that idea from?
    The AFL and the FFA came to an agreement on which stadiums would be used by who (the World Cup would get the MCG, while the AFL would keep using Etihad), so the AFL season would continue without interruption, and with the only disruption being that they had to be more flexible with where the games were played. I live in Melbourne so have no idea what the arrangements are with rugby, but see no reason why it would be different.

    The deal for World Cup finals also includes the building of new stadia, so the benefits are long term. That clearly means there is no ban on any sport, and it would be, frankly, a stupid idea. As for you not wanting the World Cup here, well, you’re entitled to your opinion, but rest assured, they aren’t going to ask you for permission. The FFA had already launched a bid, and the government has supported it. Don’t like it? Vote for someone else at the election, but it won’t change anything.

    @Leage Freak “soccer is so popular here as a spectator sport that it has to be played in summer.” Get a clue mate. ‘Soccer’ is a summer sport. The only place where it’s really played in winter is Europe (with the exception of Russia and some of the other eastern european countries who play it in summer to avoid having to use ice skates).

    I suppose the brazilians and argentines play it in summer because it struggles as a spectator sport?

  8. Just to clear up some rumours which are going around.
    FIFA do not stipulate that NRL and AFL will have to shut down there whole season. The only thinkg that FIFA ask for is that stadiums being used for the World Cup are not used by other codes during the tournament and for 6 weeks prior to the tournament.
    AFL and NRL will continue their season in stadiums outside of the world cup bid (Etihad, SCG, Gabba etc.)
    Anyway I’m sure the NRL will change the State of Origin games not to clash with the world cup.

    And as for fans rioting, this is a thing of the past that happened back in the 80’s. The last few world cups in Germany, Korea/ Japan have seen no trouble at all. The boost to our economy and tourist industry should we win this would be phenomenal, not to mention the improved infrastructre in our country.

  10. @Craig: from what I’ve heard, it’s any sport that is considered big in the host country, and it’s a year long ban (so it doesn’t matter if the event is after swc).

    The state of origin takes place before July, and thus would
    come into conflict with the soccer world cup.

    I’m also not sure Id want the swc in australia, some countries are so passionate about the sport that they’re likely to riot.

  11. Its the biggest sporting event in the world, and since the general population of the world cant all be there to watch the game, they use this thing called a TV to do so

  13. Paul: FIFA are allowing NRL and AFL to continue if the football world cup is held here as they are considered minority sports. The world cup will be over in July, long before the NRL and AFL grand finals anyway.

  14. Australia should not even consider hosting the soccer world cup here, until FIFA change their rules in regards to other major sporting events in the host country. There’s no way we should let go of our nrl and afl grand finals, which are annual traditions.

    The fact that the internatinal soccer community wants the 2018 SWC held in Europe again, shows that Europe & Asia, aren’t really that committed to soccer becoming a ‘world game’.

    Anyway, we all know the world cup worth watching, doesn’t start until next year (the union Football World Cup)!

  15. Leauge Freak: Not sure where you are getting your information from, but there is no move for the UAE to host the tournament, maybe you are getting confused with Qatar. We will not find out if it is a waste of tax dollars until December, but we have a very real chance of winning.
    As for not being in the right time zone, we are in a similar time zone as 2 thirds of the planets population, including football crazy China, Japan, Korea and South East Asia, so that argument does not hold up.
    If we do win the rights to hold the World Cup in 2022 then the benefits to our country would be enormous.

    David – on another note, I’m not complaining about this story being here, just wondered what it has to do with TV? OK the world cup will be shown on TV, but then so are many other sporting events.

  16. Tens of millions of tax payers dollars just went down the drain right there. What is not getting reported a great deal is the move to have the UAE host the tournament as soon as possible as well. We’re a nation of just 21 million in a bad tv time zone and soccer is so popular here as a spectator sport that it has to be played in summer. Even then, teams run in the red and are dying. Stop me when I meantion one reason the suits at Fifa would even consider Australia…

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