Government leaders – and royalty – are stepping up support for their countries’ bids to host the football World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
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On Tuesday Prince William, British Prime Minister David Cameron and David Beckham arrived in Zurich to help England’s 2018 bid. They hope to limit the potential damage caused by a BBC television investigation that accused three Fifa voters of corruption.
World football’s governing body, which has its headquarters in Zurich, said it had no intention of examining the BBC allegations, adding that the matter was dealt with by a Swiss criminal court two years ago and no official was charged.
Cameron said: “I’ve only got one focus here and that’s trying to bring the World Cup home for England.”
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to announce on Wednesday whether he will travel to Zurich before Thursday’s vote to lobby for his country’s 2018 bid.
US Attorney General Eric Holder will join former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday to push the US bid for the 2022 tournament.
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But a further claim by British newspaper The Sunday Times that some bidding countries were guilty of collusion before the December 2 vote in Zurich was dismissed. Fifa’s ethics court suspended Amos Adamu of Nigeria from all football activity for three years for agreeing to take bribes from undercover reporters from The Sunday Times who…
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On Tuesday Prince William, British Prime Minister David Cameron and David Beckham arrived in Zurich to help England’s 2018 World Cup bid. They hope to limit the potential damage caused by a BBC television investigation that accused three Fifa voters of corruption. On this occasion David Beckham made a surprise visit to a gym class…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.