By Andrew Warshaw
November 23 – The head of Spain/Portugal’s World Cup 2018 bid says he is confident of getting at least eight votes when the ballot takes place next week for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
Bid chief executive Miguel Angel Lopez said he is “moderately confident” of beating Russia, England and Holland/Belgium in Zurich on December 2.
When asked about reports Spain/Portugal already had eight votes, he added: “It would be about that, more or less.”
Lopez’s comments, made to Bloomberg, will only serve to fuel unconfirmed reports that a vote-trading deal has done between Spain/Portugal for 2018 and Qatar for 2022.
Last week, FIFA’s Ethics Committee dismissed allegations of collusion between Spain/Portugal and Qatar on the grounds of lack of evidence.
Lopez insisted that if there had been substance to the allegations, the Ethics Committee would have probed deeper.
He confirmed, however, that he expected most support from South America and from Asia rather than Europe, and that he was not expecting UEFA President Michel Platini to back his bid.
“Latin America is our natural territory,” said Lopez who revealed that two other European FIFA members would almost certainly vote against Spain – Senes Erzik from Turkey and Cyprus’ Marios Lefkaritis.
“They haven’t given us any indication they will [vote for us],” Lopez said, adding he was more optimistic of support from the four Asian FIFA members.
Interestingly, it was Asia who were partly responsible for scuppering South Africa’s 2006 World Cup bid when they switched allegiance to Germany at the eleventh hour.
Co-incidentally, the Asian FIFA members are currently being heavily lobbied in Kuala Lumpur by a high-profile English delegation.
Whatever happens between now and December 2, most FIFA members have already made up their minds, according to Lopez.
“All the fish is sold,” he said.
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