Manchester’s World Cup dreams in the hands of Beckham

14th May 2010

A copy of England’s bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup was delivered to Manchester Town Hall this morning.

The 1,700 page document, which outlines England’s vision for the event, has been under tight security before its official handover to FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, this morning.

A delegation of FA officials, including England 2018 vice-president, David Beckham; chairman, Lord David Triesman and chief executive, Andy Anson, will perform the ceremony in Zurich.

Awaiting Manchester’s copy of the bid at the Town Hall was Paul Simpson, managing director of Visit Manchester and Cllr Mike Amesbury, executive member for culture and leisure at Manchester City Council.

Paul Simpson said: “Manchester was selected as one of England’s candidate host cities back in December. Since then we have supported the FA with the wider country bid that has been submitted to FIFA this morning. As the only city outside of London to have two stadia included in the bid, Manchester is playing a key part in England’s world cup ambitions and, fingers crossed; we’ll all have something to celebrate in December when FIFA make their final decision.”

Cllr Mike Amesbury said: “England has put together a strong bid to host the World Cup in 2018 and Manchester is at the heart of it. Hopefully we will have some great news come December and in a few short years the biggest football competition in the world will be right here in our great city.”

For more information about sport events held in Manchester, visit: www.manchesterworldsport.com

ENDS