Blatter impressed by England World Cup bid

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said yesterday he had been impressed by England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup and said the country was ready to host the tournament .

Blatter was speaking after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron in Downing Street, where he received a presentation on the English 2018 bid less than two months before the Dec. 2 vote.

Blatter watched Cameron perform at Prime Minister’s Questions in Parliament before officials outlined the English bid’s global legacy plans, which include matching FIFA’s 75-million pound annual investment in grassroots football.

“Now England can organise the World Cup tomorrow – that’s not a problem, but what you are doing is a World Cup for the world,” Blatter said after the meeting.

“The situation is such that your bid has impressed me personally. I will report to the executive committee when they meet before the December 2 decision,” Blatter said.

The influential global football supremo also paid tribute to the progress England had made in building modern all-seater stadia and eradicating hooliganism from the domestic game.

Blatter urged other national associations to replicate the all-seater stadiums and lack of fences, saying the crowd problems which forced the abandonment of Tuesday’s Italy vs Serbia international in Genoa were unlikely to have happened in England.