Sunderland 2018 Host City Bid

Sunderland AFC star Darren Bent and Sunderland City Council Leader Paul Watson proudly raised the England 2018/2022 flag today, as the Sunderland 2018/2022 team takes aim at the biggest goal in football – the chance to host the FIFA World Cup. The flag is now flying at Sunderland AFC’s Academy of Light, one of many venues around the region that will have a role to play if England wins the right to host the event.

Sunderland is one of 12 Candidate Host Cities included in the Football Association’s bid which will be presented to FIFA in May. The city’s bid team is now working closely with The FA and the other cities to ensure that England presents the strongest possible case to FIFA. Part of that process involves ensuring that the bid effectively showcases Sunderland and North East England’s world class facilities, passion for football and huge desire to host FIFA World Cup matches.

The deciding votes of FIFA’s executive committee are due to be cast in early December, so the next 10 months will be crucial in England’s bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. After the bid has been submitted, there will be a series of meetings during which bidding nations will have the opportunity to engage with FIFA representatives. There will then be a number of other key dates in the diary, before FIFA announces the successful host nations for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals.

In June and July there will also be the small matter of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The tournament is Africa’s first and will be a chance for everyone involved in or supporting the Sunderland bid to appreciate the magnitude of what is at stake for all of the current bidding nations and potential host cities. The FA will also use the opportunity to lobby members of the FIFA executive committee and Sunderland will offer any assistance that it can.

Then, in August and September, FIFA representatives will visit each of the 2018 and 2022 bidding nations to conduct crucial detailed inspections. With the North East identified as a key hub in England’s bid, there is a strong possibility that a FIFA delegation will make their way to see first-hand what the region has to offer before casting their votes in December.

From the start, Sunderland’s bid has been characterised by its involvement of people, organisations and facilities from throughout the North East and even Cumbria. Very strong partnerships have been formed with Middlesbrough FC, Durham County Cricket Club, Hartlepool United FC, Darlington FC and Carlisle United FC and all are integral to the Sunderland offer. The Sunderland 2018 bid team has also worked closely with local authorities and accommodation providers to deliver a compelling case for the region as part of England’s bid.

Now that Sunderland is a Candidate Host City, The FA needs the city and the region to continue to voice its support, this time for the England bid. If that is successful, hosting World Cup matches in Sunderland and North East England will provide huge opportunities for local communities and businesses alike.

Potentially hundreds of thousands of fans will fill Sunderland’s two official Fan Fest sites, various Live Sites and the centres of the North East’s towns and cities, to experience a fantastic spectacle of football, and bring millions of pounds to the local economy in the process. And a key element of Sunderland’s 2018 bid is also to leave a long lasting football legacy after the last ball of the tournament has been kicked, that will light up lives for communities and businesses regionally, nationally and internationally, for generations to come.

Community based football tournaments will be an important element of Sunderland’s programme of activity in the build up to the World Cup in 2018, and will also continue for long afterwards providing part of a larger, sustainable legacy. Led by the renowned Sunderland AFC Foundation, if England is successful the Sunderland team will also focus on using the power of football to build communities and business in a variety of other ways, developing public sports facilities, providing educational opportunities for children and adults, and helping to increase the opportunities for minority groups to benefit from participating in the ‘beautiful game’.

Sunderland has developed a hosting concept, ‘Lighting up Lives’, and that underpins everything that it offers the World Cup and was the core message of its bid to The FA. The city has already started to live up to that message by generating remarkable support from the public and the business community in the North East. The FA indicated at the outset of the bidding process that public support would play a crucial role in its assessment of candidate host cities. In less than six months last year, Sunderland received more than 50,000 ‘back the bid’ messages of support via signing registers, emails and text messages, with support coming from over 120 countries worldwide. Crucially, communities and institutions from across the North East and Cumbria united in their support of Sunderland’s bid, with many pledging exclusive, practical assistance to strengthen Sunderland’s technical bid and in doing so engage and unite communities.

In addition, national and international companies have got behind efforts to bring World Cup football to the North East, including Nissan, Caterpillar, Berghaus and Gentoo. Schools and universities have also been heavily involved in the bid and young people are at the heart of much of what Sunderland can offer the World Cup. Last year, thousands of school children entered a special competition to showcase their vision for a World Cup in Sunderland. In addition, students at colleges across the region and at the University of Sunderland have thrown their weight behind the bid, getting involved and showing their support by signing ‘back the bid’ registers on their campuses.

Sunderland AFC chairman Niall Quinn, said: “It is a great honour for Sunderland to be included in England’s World Cup bid but now the final crucial effort to convince FIFA that England is the most worthy candidate to host either the 2018 or 2022 tournament is really going to reach fever pitch. The Sunderland team is determined to do everything possible to make the dream of hosting the World Cup on these shores a reality.

“Should England be successful in winning the right to host the FIFA World Cup, the impact on the nation will be huge, and Sunderland and North East England will play a central role in that. But England needs to win the rights to host the tournament first and our ongoing support is vital. I urge everyone in the region to show their support now for this massive campaign and get behind the England 2018 host nation bid.”

Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council, added: “The people and businesses of the region have got a genuine opportunity to help bring the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup to England by demonstrating how passionately they want to be involved in what is the greatest sporting event on Earth. To realise the opportunities and benefits that hosting the World Cup would bring, through tourism, business and community development, we all need to stand together and back England’s bid now and in the months ahead.”

Darren Bent added: “To play in a World Cup is the pinnacle of any footballer’s career and to see the tournament held in England in 2018 or 2022 would be absolutely amazing. Last year, I was more than happy to support Sunderland’s campaign to be part of the England bid. Now that we are a candidate host city, I know that everyone in Sunderland and the North East will be getting behind The FA as they try to bring an incredible event to this country.”

Individuals and businesses can register their support for the England FIFA World Cup bid at http://www.england2018bid.com/support/the-world-invited.aspx.

For more information, contact Press Ahead:

Chris Lines on 0191 516 6235, 07971 868329, cl@pressahead.info

Matt Hipgrave on 0191 5166235, 07949 044380, mh@pressahead.info.