World Cup 2006 (Hansard, 4 February 1997)

§ Mr. Sproat

I met the FA yesterday afternoon to discuss concerns about their World Cup bid.

The FA explained that they had made the formal decision to go ahead with a World cup bid after the success of Euro 96, and publicly announced the bid on 1 July last year. Since July, there have been several occasions on which the FA's bid had been publicly referred to in the presence of both UEFA officials and the German FA. These included a dinner held to mark the retirement of Sir Bert Millichip at the London Hilton on 19 September and a UEFA dinner held to congratulate England on the success of Euro 96 in Geneva on 12 November.

On 30 October FA officials visited the headquarters of FIFA, the world football governing body, in Zurich and were briefed about the World cup bidding process. I understand that this meeting followed a letter from the FA's chief executive, Graham Kelly, to both the president of FIFA, Dr. Havelange, and the general secretary, Sepp Blatter, on 10 September confirming that the FA had decided to bid. At this stage, countries interested in bidding for the World cup can only make their intentions known publicly. The formal submission of bids does not take place until 1999, and the decision is made in 2000. Apart from England and Germany, other possible contenders are Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Peru and Ecuador.

The FA explained that a fax had arrived at the FA's headquarters on 31 January from the general secretary of UEFA, Gerhard Ainger, which said that that week's meeting of the UEFA committee had 587W recalled that it had already committed itself to supporting the candidature of the Football Association of Germany as organiser of the World Cup of 2006". This recollection apparently referred to discussions that had been held several years previously. I understand that this was the first time that any such endorsement of the German bid had been communicated to the FA. Since receiving this information, the FA has asked UEFA for the minutes of the meeting or meetings at which this issue was discussed and an indication of how the decision taken was communicated to the member associations within UEFA.

To date, I understand that no records of the decisions have been forthcoming from UEFA and UEFA officials are now reported to have acknowledged that no such records exist. Its media director is quoted in today's newspapers as saying that UEFA's official support for Germany is not recorded in any minutes".

In these circumstances, the FA has drawn the obvious conclusion that any discussions that took place could not have been of any great significanceor they would have been formally minuted and notified to the member associations.

The FA believes that UEFA has a responsibility to all member associations and should consider carefully the merits of any case presented by any one of them to stage the World cup. It also sees a clear need for an open and democratic assessment of all bids so that football secures the best venue possible to stage the World cup. I understand that the FA will be meeting UEFA shortly, and will be seeking clarification of UEFA's intentions.

From the information presented to us, we find it difficult to understand UEFA's position. FIFA makes the decision on where the tournament will be held, and has indicated that it will not be influenced by UEFA's decision.

I have written today to my opposite number in Germany to express my hope that our bids can be conducted in a spirit of friendly rivalry. I have also sought to ascertain whether or not he understood that a decision had already been made by UEFA to back the German bid.

The Government strongly support the FA. We believe that the FA's bid is an excellent one, and one that has every chance of success. We staged an outstanding Euro 96, the facilities at our grounds are second to none and lottery funds have been earmarked to ensure that the new stadium at Wembley will be the finest in the world and a fitting venue for the 2006 World cup final. We ask only that there is a level playing field, and that the respective bids be judged on their merits.

I am very much looking forward to the dinner I am hosting on 11 February and the reception on 12 February to promote this excellent bid, which will provide a further opportunity to demonstrate our support.