By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
September 1 – FIFA’s inspectors, led by Chilean Football Federation President Harold Mayne-Nicholls (pictured), have begun looking at the proposed facilities to be used if Portugal’s joint bid to host the 2018 World Cup is successful.
The delegation travelled from Spain to northern Portugal and toured a congress centre near Porto where the qualifying draw would be held and visited FC Porto’s Stadium of the Dragon, one of the proposed match venues.
The delegation is due to travel to Lisbon tomorrow to inspect Benfica’s Stadium of Light and Sporting’s Jose Alvalade Stadium.
All three stadiums were built to host the 2004 European Championship.
Earlier, they had visited Barcelona’s Camp Nou, where Barcelona Board member Josep Ramon Vidal-Abarca claimed they expressed their satisfaction.
He said: “They seemed very pleased.
“They liked the facilities very much and were particularly impressed by the visitors’ changing rooms.
“They also paid special attention to the pitch.
“Hosting matches in the World Cup finals would be very important for the club as it has a world-wide impact.”
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