USA withdraws from race to stage 2018 World Cup

By Andrew Warshaw

October 15 – The United States has finally withdrawn from the race to stage the 2018 World Cup and will exclusively focus on the 2022 campaign along with Australia, Qatar, Japan and South Korea.

Making public the biggest open secret in the entire bidding process, the USA bid committee confirmed it was ditching any interest in 2018, leaving the field entirely to the four European candidates.

As a quid-pro-quo, England, which had technically still been in the race for 2022, announced it was only campaigning for the former event.

In a statement made simultaneously on its website and via FIFA, the US bid team said its decision had come “after several months of careful deliberation” with FIFA, UEFA and members of the USA Bid Board of Directors.

“For some time we have been in conversations with FIFA and UEFA about the possibility of focusing only on the 2022 bidding process, an option we have made reference to many times,” said Sunil Gulati, chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of US Soccer.

“We are confident this is in the best interests of the USA Bid.”

It was only a matter of time before the USA chose to go down the 2022 route.

Even FIFA President Sepp Blatter has endorsed the 2018 World Cup coming to Europe but many observers predicted the USA might wait until the last minute before declaring their hand in order to assess how much support they felt they had.

“We have had an open and constructive dialogue with the USA Bid for some time now, after it became apparent that there was a growing movement to stage the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Europe,” said Gulati.

The timing of the announcement is significant, coming just two weeks before the next crucial stage in the bid process when the FIFA Executive Committee decides on the voting procedure for the selection of the host nations for both World Cups.

“The announcement by the USA Bid to focus solely on the 2022 FIFA World Cup is a welcome gesture which is much appreciated by FIFA,” said FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke.

Gulati added: “We wanted to make the announcement now - still 48 days before the final decision - in order to make our intentions clear during the last part of our campaign.

“This also enables FIFA to finalise the selection procedures during its upcoming scheduled Executive Committee meeting.”

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