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Boris Johnson today urged Londoners to back their city for a major role in England's 2018 World Cup bid.
He called on a million Londoners to register their support for the capital as it goes up against 14 other UK cities vying for the biggest part in the 2018 campaign.
The mayor staked out London's credentials as “football-mad city”, with world-class venues, 13 professional clubs - more than any other city in the world - and thriving grassroots leagues.
Launching the campaign, the mayor unveiled his “London United” bid team, in which Carphone Warehouse tycoon David Ross makes a comeback after resigning from the 2012 Olympic committee amid a shares controversy.
Already London is guaranteed a role in England's bid as the national stadium at Wembley would host the final.
But the bid team will seek the biggest possible slice of the action for London as the Football Association has to choose at least 12 stadiums as well as training camps and public viewing areas.
The FA will submit its bid in December before the host of the 2018 tournament is chosen in December 2010 by 24-member executive of Fifa, the world governing body.
Speaking at today's launch at City Hall, the mayor said: Come on Londoners – join me in supporting the bid to host one of the greatest sporting tournaments in the world. London is a football mad city, from the top-flight professional club and international matches attracting fans in their tens of thousands each week to the friendly kick about in local parks and open spaces like Hackney Marshes, Europe's largest expanse of playing fields. We've a track record for hosting international sporting events on a regular basis and the many parks and green spaces would be perfect for watching World Cup matches, so register your support for our city's bid and be ready to welcome the world!”
London's draft 2018 prospectus will be put to the FA on 8 July. It and will make the case for host venues Wembley, Arsenal's Emirates stadium, Tottenham's soon-to-be redeveloped White Hart Lane stadium and an ambitious proposal to use the Olympic stadium at Stratford. However the candidacy of the Twickenham rugby stadium has been put on hold as rugby officials consider the costs of meeting Fifa's technical requirements.
Fifa stipulates a minimum “net capacity” of 40,000 seats once the demands of VIPs and media are met - a requirement that rules out Chelsea's Stamford Bridge. However Chelsea and fellow Premier League clubs West Ham and Fulham will be encouraged to bid to become training camps.
Bid officials last week met 2012 legacy chief Baroness Margaret Ford to discuss World Cup options for the Olympic Park. Baroness Ford told the Standard last week she wanted to avoid dismantling the 80,000-seat main stadium and talks are likely to focus on the cost - not thought to be prohibitive - of adapting the stadium for the World Cup. If it proves uneconomical at 80,000 and is reduced post-Olympics to a 25,000-seat venue, the stadium could be a 2018 training ground. Brazil has filled similar-sized venues for its practise sessions at previous World Cup.
The 2.5 square kilometre Park - the largest new urban park in Europe for 100 years - would also be a frontrunner to be a “Fan Park”. Bid officials hope to borrow the model from the 2006 World Cup in Germany where the Olympic Park for the 1972 Munich Games was used a public viewing area.
The London United line-up includes the mayor's experts on transport, tourism, security and major events and is led by Chelsea director of communications Simon Greenberg.
Greenberg said: “We have been hugely encouraged by the speed with which all the major London stakeholders have come together so quickly, and with such enthusiasm, to prepare London's bid as an Applicant Host City in England 2018. The Mayor is fully behind it, evidenced by the appointment of David Ross as his representative. David has great experience in dealing with some of London's iconic sporting venues and major sporting events such as Wembley and the 2012 Olympics.”
Standard readers wishing to show their support should go to www.England2018bid.com. Click on “Register Your Support” then choose London in the drop down menu for “Choose Your City”.
The venues
Stadia in the capital which could be used if London won the contest to stage the 2018 World Cup include Wembley, which would be guaranteed to stage a final.
In north London, Arsenal's Emirates stadium and Tottenham's new White Hart Lane venue, which is being re-developed, would be likely to see World Cup action. The Olympic stadium in Stratford, which has already been spoken of as a possibel 2018 fixture, is another possibility - with Twickenham in south west London an outsider.
Possible training camps for venues not chosen for competitive games could include Premisrship grounds including Chelsea's Stamford Bridge and Fulham's Craven Cottage in west London, and West Ham in east London. There will also be “fan parks” likely to be at the Olympics site, and one of the central Royal Parks such as Hyde or Regent's Park could also see action of some sort.
Reader views (10)
Waste. Of. Money.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
didn't livingstone urge us to back the olympics
and look at the overspend, unesti,mation, back tracking on promises and apparent sleaze and corruption, not to mention false promises that have already been created and they have'nt even happened yet.
best wait and see what excrement the olympics create before plunging team uk into another round of debt, global humiliation and soul searching enquiries to learn lessons that were apparent to all with the brain of a five year old.
- M.O'Brien, ;london.uk
Melvyn is right with his comment about using current football grounds. The premiership clubs are rich (or should be with the cash they receive) so they keep their grounds pretty much to an international standard.
The Olympics were a start from scratch project that needed huge investment. To upgrade any current grounds would mean a benefit to the club itself so it could be made as a loan rather than am outright cost.
By hosting the World Cup, if the financial deals are right (a big if with the current mob in charge) it could make enough money to cover the losses the Olympics will doubtless make.
- Dereck, London, England
Is he taking the mickey here...how much more of the tax payers money is he going to waste...doesn't he think we're suffering enough with the olympics and transport etc... he needs to get a grip on reality.
- Sarah, London
Not another money pit to pour our hard-earned down! If you want to bid for the world cup use your own money Boris, not mine.
- anon, London
If "all the major London stakeholders" mentioned by Simon Greenberg wish to invest
in this project, then fine: be my guest.
...But keep your hand out of MY pocket!
- Croyboy, Croydon
Unlike the Olmpics the World Cup will use stadiums that already exist and given the fact the tornament is held out of season will bring in extra revenue.
London did it in 1966 and England won!! - Tories even had the cheek to complain that it was Harold Wilson who got England to play in Red!
1966 was a great year for the Reds as Harold won with a landslide victory...Come on ye reds - (pity we cant hold it next year!)
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Before tax payers are committed to funding another event the olympic committee must make public the findings of the enquiry by KPMG forensic accountants into the disappearance of £100 MILLION from the olympic purse. There was a report in the press last Friday that the findings would not be made public. As it is £100 MILLION of tax payers' money which is allegedly unaccounted for we have a right to know where it has gone. The whole fiasco has been one big cover-up since they submitted the initial bid and we have been fed on a diet of lies and deceipt by those on the 2012 gravy train. If the KPMG forensic team find irregularities in the accounting then, as a tax payer, I demand to know. Anyone found guilty of wrongdoing must be named and shamed. We will NOT accept another cover-up by Coe and the other freeloaders on his olympic gravy train.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
That's fine. But if we back it like the Olympics, we end up paying the lions share of the costs through a levy on our council tax. If the country wants these events then the country should pay not just Londoners.
- J D Keating, london,
Please NO!!!! We can't afford another Consultants bonanza paid for by the UK taxpayers, (nor the Citizens of London#. Where is the money coming from? Can't they see that, if there are three million unemployed #forecasted), any monies should be spent reducing this total, not on Chairmen of Quangos or other such like committees. Please remember committees take minutes, and waste hours, because they get paid by the hour. There's money in it for all the usual 'stakeholders' from politicians to spivs, or are they the same these days, but there is the square root of damn all for Joe public who usually ends up pouring millions into a black hole. 100 million quid being traced after going missing from Olympic coffers, not fraud though, because no one would admit that, or even stand up to be accountable.
- Alan, carlisle uk
