Bidding countries throw the books at FIFA

ENGLAND star David Beckham, Dutch and Belgian footballing greats on bicycles, and a Japanese bid combining electronics with an origami pop-out opened the bidding to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 on Friday.

Australian football chief Frank Lowy kicked off FIFA's official ceremonies for the handover of detailed bidding books by the candidates, as South Korea, Qatar, Russia, Spain and Portugal, as well as the United States, followed at the world governing body's headquarters.

Lowy said he recognised it was a difficult contest.

"We hope and pray that we might be the lucky country," said the billionaire businessman who is leading the bid. "We are proud to present to FIFA our bid documents, highlighting a technically brilliant bid supported by unified government funding and commitment at all levels.

"Our nationwide hosting proposal means millions of sports fans across Australia will be able to enjoy the biggest and most exciting sporting event in the world in wonderful new or upgraded stadiums in their own cities.

"The infrastructure investment will leave a legacy to all sporting codes in the nation before and after the FIFA World Cup for generations to come."

The new stadiums include a 60,000-seat stadium on the Subiaco precinct in Perth, a 40,000-seat stadium near the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra and a 41,000-seat stadium in Blacktown in Sydney's west.

The stadiums to be upgraded and have their capacity either permanently or temporarily increased include ANZ Stadium, Sydney Football Stadium, the MCG, Skilled Stadium in Geelong, Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville, Adelaide Oval, Gold Coast, EnergyAustralia Stadium in Newcastle and Suncorp Stadium.

FFA CEO Ben Buckley said the bid showed that Australia could deliver the best experience for teams and fans in Australia and the region.

"This is our opportunity to showcase our unique and beautiful country to the world," Buckley said. "Our bid is a tailor-made, compelling concept that shows Australia is ready to fulfil the dream of holding the FIFA World Cup on every continent on the globe."

Under the slogan "208 smiles," an origami pop-out unfolded from Japan's bid book, also revealing a PDA device, as the nine bidders generally handed FIFA president Sepp Blatter colourful but straightforward thick volumes.

Qatari heir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani countered the gloss by pointing out that the Gulf emirate was ready to spend $US4 billion dollars ($A4.5 billion) on stadiums for the event in 2022.

Beckham highlighted English "passion for the game" as he delivered England's thick three-volume bid book.

"This is something that runs throughout our country, our veins, it's something that we were brought up with," Beckham added, accompanied by Football Association chiefs.

Blatter received a call from new British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday, as well as letters from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Japan's Yukio Hatoyama, among expressions of all important government backing.

Sheikh Tamim said the hopes of 400 million people in the Middle East and North Africa were riding on Qatar's bid, the first from the region.

"We ask that in the same way as you are kicking down the door for Africa, you allow us [in]. We only ask that you grace us with reading our book," he told Blatter.

Blatter has suggested that Qatar had a good chance to become the first World Cup host from the Arab world.

But little else filtered out about the substance of the bids, except for Holland-Belgium's environmental thrust and suggestions by Russian officials that they were willing to cluster the event mainly on the western side of the country.

Holland and Belgium added an original twist to star power, as their bidding committee cycled into the lobby of FIFA headquarters to unveil a "green" bid.

"We try to give two million bikes to all the fans, so they can go everywhere," explained Ruud Gullit.

Blatter announced that FIFA had dropped its reluctance to consider joint bids since the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, improving Holland-Belgium as well as Spain-Portugal's chances.

Spanish secretary of state for sports Jaime Lissavetsky Diez, said the two countries could already offer good stadiums and played down the impact of the current European debt crisis on the bid.

"The economy of 2018 will be very different, I believe very much in Europe and we can improve the situation," he told journalists.

FIFA has traditionally sought to rotate one of sport's biggest events around continents.

There have been strong hints that after a first foray into Africa this year and Brazil in 2014, the World Cup finals would return to Europe four years later and its Asian region — which includes the Middle East — in 2022.

Japan Football Association president Motoaki Inukai's bid was clearly earmarked for 2022 while FIFA officials confirmed South Korea and Qatar were also aiming for 2022.

But they insisted there was no continental divide unless countries themselves chose to aim for a particular year.

The final choice will be down to FIFA's 24-strong ruling executive committee, which will vote for the host countries on December 2.

A three-man inspection team will visit the nine candidates between July and September.

■France appears favoured to host football's European Championship in 2016 after UEFA published evaluations of the three bidding nations.

UEFA praised France on Friday for creating a "very good long-term legacy" plan in its bid dossier, which detailed plans for spending €1.7 billion ($A2.38 billion) on stadiums.

France is competing with Italy and Turkey for Euro 2016 hosting rights in a vote scheduled for May 28.

■Togo was officially cleared to play in the 2012 African Nations Cup qualifying competition after an African Football Confederation executive meeting in Cairo on Friday.

The tiny west African country had been barred from the next two editions of the biennial qualifiers after withdrawing from the 2010 finals in Angola last January without informing the organisers.

The team had withdrawn after a rebel attack on the Togolese team bus as it entered the restive Angolan enclave of Cabinda after a training camp in neighbouring Congo. The attack claimed the lives of an assistant coach and an official.

■Carlo Costly, a forward who scored six goals in World Cup qualifying, was not included in the preliminary squad announced by Honduras for the World Cup.

The Central American squad lost the playmaker when he suffered a broken bone in his foot last week while playing in Romania for his club side, Vaslui. He will need at least six weeks to heal, according to doctors.

AFP