Bin Hammam says England deserve to host World Cup

Published on Tuesday 17 March 2009 23:01

ENGLAND "deserve" to host the World but need luck in order to do so, according to one of the most powerful men in football.

Mohamed Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian football confederation and a Fifa executive committee member, said England had many things in their favour. England are bidding for the 2018 World Cup and will target the 2022 event if unsuccessful in that.

Bin Hammam said his priority was to ensure one of the five Asian nations bidding were successful but that England were coming from a strong position.

He said: "Frankly speaking England deserve to host the World Cup. It's the best land for football, and the month of July in England will be the best weather conditions for football.

"It's also good for tourism reasons. So many things would actually make the World Cup in England a unique event. The 2012 Olympics was a tough competition too and London managed to win that. But this can come down to pure luck. There are other great nations bidding too and it is up to each person to find their motivation to vote."

Australia, Qatar, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia are all bidding for either 2018 or 2022.

Bin Hammam said: "My job is to support a bid from Asia."

Spain/Portugal, Russia, Belgium/Holland, USA and Mexico have also registered their intention to bid for 2018 or 2022.