Football: British PM meets FIFA deputy to push World Cup bid

November 11, 2010 | 15:06

(0) user say

British Prime Minister David Cameron met the South Korean vice president of FIFA Thursday as England enters the final stretch of a battle to host the 2018 World Cup.

Cameron held around 30 minutes of talks with Chung Mong-Joon, who is also president of Korea's FA, ahead of the Group of 20 summit of advanced and emerging economies which starts in Seoul Thursday.

The British PM joked that his priorities were clear ahead of the December 2 vote, saying he had earlier told South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak that "I was spending much more time on the World Cup than on the G20".

England, Russia and joint bids by Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium are in the running to host the 2018 World Cup.

The vote next month, which will also determine the host of the 2022 tournament, has been clouded by British newspaper allegations of corruption in the bidding process.

FIFA will announce the results of a probe by its ethics committee into the bidding race on November 17. It has provisionally suspended two executive committee members pending the investigation's outcome.

AFP

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional