June 15 – The USA Bid Committee has announced that Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman will join its board of directors in its quest to bring the World Cup to the United States in 2018 or 2022.
Freeman, an Academy Award winning actor, most recently starred as Nelson Mandela in the movie, Invictus.
The Clint Eastwood film was about the South African national rugby team at the 1995 rugby World Cup and how it helped reunify a country that was split apart by apartheid.
Freeman said: ”As Mandela once said, ‘Sport has the power to change the world’.
“‘It has the power to inspire, the power to unite that little else has.
“I’ve seen the power that sport, and in particular soccer, can have on individuals around the world.
“That’s why I’m honoured to represent and support the United States.”
Freeman joins an impressive and diverse list of board of directors that includes director Spike Lee, actor Brad Pitt, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, comedian Drew Carey and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, among others.
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