Beckham leads "Back the Bid" campaign for England 2018

By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

August 19 – David Beckham today launched a campaign urging English football fans to show their support for the country’s bid for the 2018 World Cup by getting involved in events aimed at impressing a FIFA inspection team when it visits next week.

The former England captain threw his weight behind “Back the Bid Week”, which will see a series of events held around the country, and flags and banners put up at football grounds to show the country’s desire to stage the tournament.

The delegation from FIFA arrives on Monday (August 23) for the four-day visit to assess England’s bid.

“The support we have had for the bid from the public over the past year has been incredible,” said the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star.

“I’ve no doubt that fans from all over the country will unite and show the FIFA inspection team the type of passion and festival of football we could create if we staged the world’s greatest sporting event.”

“Back the Bid Week” gets under way today, with events taking place in 12 cities across the country to boost England’s chances of staging the World Cup for the first time since 1966.

The Premier League and Football League are promoting England 2018 at each of its games over the weekend with “Back the Bid” messages from fans, players, mascots, players and referees reaching a televised audience of 1.5 billion people in over 200 countries.

Later in the week, a national “Wear Your Shirt to Work Day” will be staged next Tuesday (August 24) to mark 100 days to go before the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups are announced by FIFA.

Councils in each of the host cities are behind the initiative along with major England 2018 partners such as Morrisons, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BT and BA.

So far, more than 1.5 million people from over 200 countries across the world have already officially shown their support for the bid.

Some of those to have shown their support for England 2018 include Prince William, England captain Rio Ferdinand, Hollywood actor Ray Winstone, Formula One world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and musicians Noel Gallagher and Robbie Williams.

Beckham, who launched the bid in May 2009 and is vice president of the team trying to take the tournament to England, made the appeal after his international career was brought to an abrupt end by coach Fabio Capello last week.

The Italian was roundly criticised for using a TV interview to tell the former captain that he was too old to feature in the forthcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers.

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