Brad Pitt latest star name to join US World Cup bid

By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

June 2 – The United States has added more star power to its bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cups, putting actor Brad Pitt (pictured) on the Committee trying to bring back football’s top event to the country for the first time since 1994.

Pitt, the star of films such as Fight Club and Ocean’s Eleven, joins a Committee that already includes former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, comedian Drew Carey and film director Spike Lee.

Pitt said: ”Soccer is a truly global sport and the opportunity to join the effort to have the US host the world’s greatest sporting event again is a great honour.”

Pitt is a tireless supporter of charitable organisations and relief efforts around the world.

In addition to working with and supporting numerous organizations with a variety of causes, Pitt also founded the Make It Right Foundation in 2006, organising housing professionals in New Orleans to finance and construct 150 sustainable, affordable new houses in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward following Hurricane Katrina.

Also in 2006, Pitt and his wife Angelina Jolie established a charitable organisation, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes around the world.

Pitt said: ”FIFA has set a world standard for using sport as a tool for positive social change and I’m proud to be associated with a United States World Cup Bid that has so ardently adhered to the principles established by FIFA.”

Pitt has little previous known connection to football besides starring alongside former Wimbledon and Wales midfielder Vinnie Jones in the Guy Ritchie film Snatch.

David Beckham, the leading Ambassador for England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup, also once confessed that he grew a beard because he wanted to look like Pitt.

But Sunil Gulati, the chairman of the US Bid Committee and President of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), is sure that he will be an important asset.

He said: ”Brad’s exposure to global culture throughout his career, along with his connection to soccer through his family has given him a unique understanding of the unifying aspect of the game.

“His consistent philanthropic efforts exemplify the bid’s desire to utilise soccer as a tool of positive change.

“We welcome Brad to our Board of Directors.”

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