Horne calls for World Cup vote "filter" system to avoid wasting millions

By Andrew Warshaw

December 5 – The general secretary of the Football Association believes FIFA should introduce a filtration process to prevent World Cup bidding nations needlessly throwing away an entire budget.

Commenting on England’s two-vote elimination at last week’s 2018 vote, Alex Horne (pictured) says FIFA should reform the system to prevent countries wasting millions on unsuccessful bids.

“For nine bidders to go all the way to Zurich may not be strictly necessary,” said Horne in reaction to the double ballot result.

“I think there are other ways of looking at the process.

“There could be pre-elimination rounds or criteria.”

England 2018 chief executive Andy Anson has taken every opportunity since England’s failure – whether on television, radio or in print – to denounce the system of a small grouping taking such far-reaching decisions.

He was backed up by Horne who said: “I think it is difficult in the aftermath of last week, with some of the conversations that the representatives of the bid were involved in, to trust in some individuals.

“People were specifically told things that didn’t come to light.

“If half a dozen people promised us a vote and we only got one then people lied to us.”

Sports Minister Hugh Robertson, one of a 30-man delegation campaigning in Zurich ahead of Thursday’s decision, revealed that eight Executive Committee members had indicated they intended to vote for England.

Despite claims that Marios Lefkaritis was one of those who had changed their mind over support for England, Robertson defended the Cypriot.

“To be fair to him, he was never on my list of confirmed voters,” he said.

“Indeed I was due to go and see him in November and was told not to bother because he was going to vote for Russia.

“I did actually speak to him myself in Zurich.

“There was no indication that he was going to vote for us as a first-preference.”

Lefkaritis refused to reveal if his was the one vote that England gained apart from their own FIFA member Geoff Thompson.

It is understood the England 2018 team believe African Football Confederation President Issa Hayatou voted for them despite having been a central figure in the corruption allegations screened by the BBC’s Panorama programme three days before the vote.

“Maybe I voted, maybe I didn’t,” Lefkaritis told BBC radio.

“I’m not denying anything, I’m not accepting anything.”

“It was a normal bidding process but unfortunately only one has to be a winner.

“What can you do?”

On Saturday, also on BBC radio, Anson again went on the offensive over England spending £15 million ($24 million) on what was effectively two votes.

“It might be time for big countries – the US, Australia, Spain, ourselves – who feel this has been handled badly, to make our opinions felt,” he said.

“If anyone is going to do it now is the time and we should act quickly.”

Australia, a strong choice among neutrals because of its established sporting reputation and fan passion – along with the fact that it had never held the World Cup – fared even worse than England in the contest to stage the 2022 tournament, picking up just one vote as Qatar, with no sporting pedigree to speak of, ran away with victory.

“We’ve talked to the Spanish, American and Australian bid teams and there is a lot of anger there,” said Anson.

“Australia spent $40 million (£26 million) of Government money on their 2022 bid and they have been left frustrated, while the US also still can’t believe that they lost out to Qatar in the same vote.”

Anson re-iterated why he wanted the process widened to include FIFA’s 208 national football associations rather than be decided by the organisation’s Executive Committee.

“There are a number of Executive Committee members that have been on it for 25 years and that is never a healthy scenario,” he said.

“Maybe it is time to look at having term limits of four to eight years.

“It feels like a brotherhood that has been together for a very long time and are incredibly protective of this cushy, nice life that they have.

“People move in or out very infrequently and they have no desire to change.

“It would be nice if something happened within FIFA, but making that happen requires 105 members to make any significant change so it is a really tough task.”

Anson has been unable able to contain his frustration that England’s technical bid – widely viewed as the strongest of the 2018 bidders – appeared to carry such little weight.

“The whole technical process is flawed.

“We spent £3 million ($5 million) on our bid book, but the books weren’t released until two weeks before the vote and that gave nobody time to digest them.

“We’re pretty sure only three people asked for the full bid book and looked at it.

“We’ve been told some didn’t even read the executive summaries, but just looked at the risk matrix.”

Meanwhile, Lefkaritis virtually admitted that final presentations to FIFA have little or no effect on World Cup hosting decisions.

“I made up my mind not long ago but almost 100 per cent before I went to Zurich,” he said.

“Not many people would have made up their minds in these last days.”

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