MIAMI: CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb has added an intriguing political twist to his region’s pursuit of World Cup hosting in 2026 writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

The  North, Central American and Caribbean confederation had already heard one member, Mexico, express an interest in 2026 after the United States failed in a bid to win 2022.

Now Webb has repeated the confederation’s interest and said support would be a necessary pre-requisite for it to back any FIFA presidential candidate in 2015.

CONCACAF last hosted the World Cup in 1994, when the United States staged the tournament.

Webb said he has held meetings with US Soccer president Sunil Gulati, along with Canadian and Mexican counterparts Victor Montagliani and Justino Compeán to discuss bringing the World Cup back to the region.

He thought CONCACAF should have been due the finals in 2022 and was unaware that the short-lived rotation system had been curtailed with the awards of 2010 to South Africa and 2014 to Brazil.

He said: “For us I think it was unfair for our confederation to miss 2022. It doesn’t matter for me – it’s 41 members – whether it’s the United States, Mexico or Canada. I believe it’s so important for us as a confederation to host the World Cup in 2026. That will have been 32 years, which would have been the longest span since World War II that we have not hosted a World Cup as a confederation.”

As for the FIFA presidency lever, Webb added:  “It comes down to sports politics. I’ll be very frank and very open with you that whoever the next president of FIFA becomes, for any support to come from CONCACAF, that must be one of the overarching objectives and commitments to this confederation – that 2026 will come to CONCACAF.”

NOW READ MORE AT:

Soccerex Business Daily
Soccerex Daily Reader Offer - Ad
Tuesday, July 9, 2013

HP rekindles Tottenham relationship

Tottenham Hotspur has announced that technology giant HP will be the English Premier League club’s principal partner for the forthcoming 2013-14 season…. read more

United lands in Russian market with Aeroflot

Manchester United has announced a five-year partnership with the Aeroflot airline – an agreement that marks the club’s first commercial deal with a Russian company…. read more

CONCACAF president presses claims for 2026 World Cup

Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) president Jeffrey Webb has stated the region is determined to host the 2026 World Cup and claims any candidate for the FIFA presidency post-2015 would need to support the organisation’s ambitions to receive its backing…. read more

Qatar set to break $200 billion investment barrier ahead of World Cup

Qatar is set to invest over US$200 billion in construction projects ahead of its staging of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to a report by Deloitte…. read more

Union drives away with Toyota extension

Major League Soccer (MLS) club the Philadelphia Union has reached an agreement to extend its partnership with Toyota “for multiple years,” according to the Philadelphia Business Journal…. read more

Prefer your news online?

Stopped receiving your usual copy?
Click here!

What’s the return for high-spending Emirates?

Matthew Glendinning, editor of Sports Sponsorship Insider, discusses Emirates’ football sponsorship strategy….

Emirates’ sponsorship spend as a proportion of its marketing budget is stratospheric compared to other brands in football – or anywhere else – and its expectations on return on investment are pretty high too. But can Emirates really get a big enough bang for it sponsorship buck to justify such spending?…. read more

Soccerex Daily Reader Offer - Ad