Soccer News: USA BID COMMITTEE TO FOCUS ON 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP

Overshadowed by competition and with the desire to focus on a big win, the USA Bid Committee announced today that it has withdrawn from the 2018 FIFA World Cup bid and will exclusively focus on the 2022 FIFA campaign.

“For some time, we have been in conversations with FIFA and UEFA about the possibility of focusing only on the 2022 bidding process, an option we have made reference to many times,” said Sunil Gulati, Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer.

The decision comes after several months of careful deliberation with FIFA, UEFA and members of the USA Bid Board of Directors. Four European candidates now remain in the race for 2018 (Belgium/Netherlands, England, Russia and Spain/Portugal). It is good business sense to clear the path for a win in 2022.

Since the FIFA Statutes indicate that the competition cannot be held on the same continent on two successive occasions, the 2022 campaign will now be between Australia, Japan, Korea Republic, Qatar and the United States.

Gulati said “We are confident this is in the best interests of the USA Bid.”

“We have had an open and constructive dialogue with the USA Bid for some time now, after it became apparent that there was a growing movement to stage the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Europe,” said FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke. “The announcement today by the USA Bid to focus solely on the 2022 FIFA World Cup is therefore a welcome gesture which is much appreciated by FIFA.”

The FIFA Executive Committee will gather in Zurich on October 28 and 29 to discuss a number of items, including the final voting process for the selection of the host nations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.

“We wanted to make the announcement now – still 48 days before the final decision – in order to make our intentions clear during the last part of our campaign,” added Gulati. “This also enables FIFA to finalize the selection procedures during its upcoming Executive Committee meeting.”

Major League Soccer (MLS) Commissioner Don Garber, one of the key people involved in the U.S. bid to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup, will present “The Creation of a Soccer Nation in America: Why the sport matters here in the U.S. and why it will matter more in the future,” on Thursday, Oct. 21.  Garber has been a strong proponent of soccer-specific stadiums (instead if multi-purpose space) and seven stadiums have been built during his tenure as MSL Commissioner.  Getting the World Cup back to the U.S. will be key step to having our country become more of a well recognized Soccer Nation.