David Beckham back on England duty in support of 2018 bid
By Pete Wilson
19 August 2010
David Beckham has put Fabio Capello’s unilateral ending of his England career behind him to launch the ‘Back the Bid week’, starting today, in support of England’s bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.
Fifa’s inspection team arrives in England next week to assess facilities that will be used if England prevail in a Fifa vote of executive committee members in December. England face competition from Russia and from joint bids by Portugal-Spain and Netherlands-Belgium. The USA are also theoretically in the running but the 2018 event is almost certainly coming to Europe.
Beckham, the bid’s vice-president, says: “The support we have had for the bid from the public over the past year has been incredible. Back the Bid Week provides the opportunity for the nation to come together again as a team and try and win the World Cup together.
“I’ve no doubt that fans from all over the country will unite and show the Fifa Inspection Team the type of passion and festival of football we could create if we staged the world’s greatest sporting event.”
A week of activity has been planned to coincide with the Fifa visit between 23 and 26 August, and to mark 100 days to go until the decision on Tuesday 24 August.
The Premier League and Football League are promoting England 2018 at each of their games over the coming weekend, with Back the Bid messages from fans, players, mascots, players and referees expected to reach a global TV audience of millions in 200 countries.
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