England launches 2018 WCup bid
2007-01-20 14:36
Mumbai - England should host the 2018 World Cup soccer finals, said British finance minister and prime minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown in Mumbai, India, on Friday.
"The next decade could become the best ever for British sport, with the Olympics in 2012 followed by the World Cup in 2018. We can and will win the World Cup for England," he told reporters.
London beat competition from Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow to host the 2012 Olympics.
British treasury officials said Brown's ministry would release a feasibility study next week backing a bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
With the deadline for Prime Minister Tony Blair to step down approaching and another credible candidate yet to emerge, the Labour chancellor of the exchequer looks a sure bet to get the top job and has been burnishing his populist credentials.
But the 55-year old Scot said he would be cheering for Scotland if they played England at the World Cup.
Brown's calls to support England in last year's finals in Germany angered some Scots and he will want to avoid creating another controversy ahead of Scottish local elections in May.
The next World Cup in 2010 will be hosted by South Africa with the 2014 tournament headed for South America where Brazil are the favourites to win the bid.
- Reuters