Holland and Belgium World Cup bid book completes journey in Antwerp

May 6 – Holland and Belgium’s bid book for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup that will be presented to FIFA in Zurich next week has today been handed over to the Prime Ministers of the two country’s at a special ceremony in Antwerp.

The meeting was the final stage of the bid’s Twelve City Tour, which started last Thursday (April 29) in Genk and Heerenveen.

Groups of supporters cycled and sailed from Genk and Heerenveen to the next host city carrying a chapter of the bid book.

By train, bicycle and boat, every bidding host city presented a chapter of the bid book.

Patrick Janssens, the Mayor of Antwerp, received the collected chapters from the delegations of Eindhoven and Ghent and added the last chapter.

Antwerp’s Mayor then gave the collected chapters in city hall to the Belgian and Dutch Prime Ministers, Yves Leterme and Jan Pieter Balkenende.

They compiled the elements of the bid book into one book and presented it to Paul van Himst, an Ambassador of the bid.

He is due to be a member of the delegation that will present the bid book to FIFA President Sepp Blatter on May 14 in Zurich.

Van Himst, who played for Belgium in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico and managed them at the tournament in the United States in 1994, was pleasantly surprised by the cities’ enthusiasm for the bid.

He said: ”Every city has tried to be sustainable and original.

“This not only resulted in pretty pictures.

“A bicycle tour of 180 kilometres in one day, from Enschede to Amsterdam on 1 May, is also a great sporting feat, as was today’s bicycle tour from Ghent to Antwerp.

“This underlines our bid’s green character.

“And this makes us unique.”