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| [John Duerden Column] Korea’s 2022 World Cup Bid Well On Track |
| [ 2010-07-26 ] |
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A success? It is always hard to judge but South Korea’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup is progressing nicely. A significant hurdle has been overcome as Sunday saw FIFA’s inspection team depart the country. From now it is all about campaigning and getting the message out that the Land of the Morning Calm is the best destination for the World Cup in less than twelve years’ time.
This was the five-man team’s second visit of the nine scheduled. It arrived from Tokyo on Thursday evening before taking off for Australia on Sunday night. Four European bidders are in the race for the 2018 competition while four Asian countries as well as the United States want the 2022 edition. The final decision will be made for both tournaments on December 2 in Zurich.
The inspection was led by Harold Mayne-Nicholls and it saw more of the nation in the space of three days than most ex-pats see in three years. Landing at a wet Gimpo Airport, the team was in full flow from Friday morning as the bidding committee had a full program planned. It started with presentations and then moved to Seoul World Cup Stadium, the fan-fest experience at City Hall, dinner with President Lee Myung-bak at the Blue House, inspections of COEX and KINTEX, KTX rides to Daegu and Ulsan, flights back to Seoul and then a helicopter ride over the city of Incheon on the way to the international airport. |
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Not surprisingly, Mayne-Nicholls said that he and his colleagues had seen what they needed to see. “Despite the short amount of time that we stayed, we could check all we needed, training sites, hotels, convention centers, stadiums, airports, new technology,” he told a press conference at Seoul’s Hyatt Hotel on Sunday.
Bid Chairman Han Sung-joo seemed to be satisfied with how everything had turned out. “They came here to verify our ability, will and preparedness to host the 2022 World Cup. I hope and trust that they did just that. They asked the right questions, went to the right places and met the right people. I trust that they got the right answers to their questions which will help them prepare the most accurate report of their inspection.”
Despite the best efforts of the reporters, Mayne-Nicholls refused to talk about how Korea fared in the inspection and asked for patience until the report is finished. It will be submitted to FIFA sometime in the autumn, probably not too long before the big day in Zurich. That comes on December 2 when the 24 members of the governing body’s Executive Committee make their decision as to which nation or nations will host both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
Mayne-Nicholls, who hails from Chile, knows Korea well and worked in Ulsan during the 2001 Confederations Cup and in Seoul during the World Cup the following year. He was happy to be back.
“After eight years, I was able to see the legacy of the World Cup is not only in the stadium but seems to be in everybody in this country,” he said. “The iconic fan-fest site in Seoul plaza in not only a tradition in Korea but also all over the world…everywhere we went, the people are really passionate about football.”
“We had a chance to learn a lot about the history and future of Korea and the challenges for the future, and the people who have helped and the president Lee Myung-bak who gave us all the support of for the 2022 World Cup and treated us in a very friendly way.”
Legacy is something that is very important for FIFA, a word especially favored by the governing body’s chief Sepp Blatter. The suggestion from chairman Han earlier this year that in the event of the 2022 World Cup coming to the Korea could actually become a tournament for the whole of the peninsula and the region as a whole. The possibility of a couple of games taking place in Pyongyang has been raised and has been well-received, not least by the inspection team - as Mayne-Nicholls said before he left Seoul.
“But mostly we learned that your well-structured bidding campaign in based on the message we all need, peace for everyone.”
The race is entering the last stage now and it is sure to be an interesting one.
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