By Andrew Warshaw
August 5 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter is a past master at wooing his audience depending on where his schedule takes him, so it was little surprise that he caught the imagination of the Canadian media on the eve of the under-20 women’s World Cup that is due to start today.
For once, Blatter faced no questions about corruption or human rights abuses at a pre-tournament news conference in Toronto and himself raised the issue of a possible future men’s World Cup in Canada.
The under-20 women’s event, taking place in Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton and Moncton and opening with the hosts against Ghana, is a precursor to Canada staging the senior women’s World Cup next year, when the tournament expands from 16 to 24 teams, and Blatter told reporters: “Let’s go to see if you can bring the famous FIFA’s World Cup we just played in Brazil to your country.”
Canada has already made it clear that the two women’s events are being used as a springboard to a possible 2026 bid, when in theory it will be CONCACAF’s turn, and Blatter acknowledged this. “It’s time. It’s a project and if you’re going to have a project like the FIFA World Cup, it takes some time.”
“We’re the only G8 country that hasn’t hosted a World Cup,” declared Victor Montagliani, president of the Canadian Football Association. “I think we’ve sort of started to shed our humbleness a little bit. . . . I think that’s our next step of evolution in terms of the growth of the game, and I think something that not only bodes well for our country but also the continent and will help our neighbours as well.”
None of which, of course, guarantees Canada will be selected for 2026 given that it won the race to stage both women’s tournaments after its lone rival, Zimbabwe, pulled out. Nevertheless, it can point to have already staged the men’s Under-17 World Cup in 1987 and the Under-20 version in 2007 and that hosting the World Cup itself would therefore be a natural progression in terms of developing the game.
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