By IANS
London : FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who is also president of CONCACAF – the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football -, has said he will battle to stop England hosting the 2018 World Cup.
His decision will be a blow to the Football Association, English football’s governing body, who were likely to plan a bid on the back of any change to the current selection procedures.
“If the World Cup were to go to Europe, I’m quite sure, with the English luck as it is, they won’t get it,” Warner told BBC World Service in an interview aired Saturday.
“There are moves to give it to England. I must fight that.”
Warner, a member of the world football body’s executive committee since 1983, added: “It will be Italy, Spain, or even France who will get the World Cup if it goes to Europe.
“Nobody in Europe likes England. England invented the sport but has never made any impact on world football.”
Warner added that he would battle to bring international football’s premier tournament to his region, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean.
“I really don’t believe that we should just lay down and play dead to anyone who wants to take the World Cup from CONCACAF ,” he said.
It is believed FIFA president Sepp Blatter is set to end the World Cup rotation policy when the executive committee meets later this year.
Instead, the world football governing body is likely to approve a format that only precludes the continents that held the previous two World Cups from bidding again, which in 2018 would be Africa and South America.