Although the World Cup is over, Sunderland is still building links with South Africa. A local partnership initiative is aiming to achieve important economic developments while also helping to bring the spirit of the Rainbow Nation back to the North East should England’s 2018 FIFA World Cup bid be successful. In 2009 Sunderland formed a partnership with the Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) to share experience and help it build capacity for further economic development in an area which suffers from a …

England’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup recently gained new support from the continent that is staging this year’s tournament, and reached new heights in the process. The England 2018/2022 message was taken to the top of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, by 19 members of Sunderland Partnership. Kilimanjaro is the world’s highest freestanding mountain and the intrepid team from Sunderland flew the flag for the nation’s bid when they arrived at its summit. On the same day, the team …

Sunderland AFC Foundation, in association with Sunderland City Council, gave youngsters the opportunity to play on the pitch at the Stadium of Light in the unique ‘World Cup 5’s’ tournaments this week. Over 660 young people took part in three five-a-side tournaments held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with teams from age groups under 9’s to under 14’s taking part. World Cup 5’s is a 5-a-side tournament which follows the same format as the FIFA World Cup™ with one small difference – the …

Premier League Clubs back the bid

Over the weekend, Sunderland AFC joined forces with every other Barclays Premier League club to show support for England’s bid to host the FIFA World CupTM. If England is successful in winning the honour of hosting the tournament in 2018, the Stadium of Light will stage matches and Sunday’s 48,000 crowd provided a taste of the atmosphere that will be generated during a World Cup.

Every Barclays Premier League club helped to promote England’s …

Torvill & Dean backs the bid

Olympic skating champions, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean have given their backing for England’s campaign to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The gold medal-winning ice icons have taken time out for their ‘Dancing on Ice’ live tour, which recently visited the North East, to champion England’s bid, which is due to be presented to FIFA next week, and encourage others to show their support.

In the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Torvill and Dean caused …

British Airways is proud to announce it is the official airline of the England 2018 World Cup Bid and partnering with football hero Gary Lineker OBE to rally the nation to back the bid.

As England 2018 ambassador, Gary unveiled the British Airways aircraft that will fly the England 2018 bid book to Zurich, home of FIFA. The Airbus A319 aircraft will sport a giant black and white football on its nose. The bid book represents England’s formal proposal to …

Grass roots football in the North East will be transformed if England wins the honour of hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022. That’s the strong message being highlighted today by Candidate Host City Sunderland.

The development of grass roots football across the region was a major part of the Sunderland Host City bid to The Football Association last year and has the potential to provide one of the most powerful and long lasting legacies …

The Stadium of Light was shining before Sunderland AFC even kicked a ball as the first ever World Cup Trophy on show to supporters as part of England’s bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Lipton Trophy was first won by a group of miners from West Auckland, County Durham in 1909, they then retained the cup in 1911 when they hammered Italian giants Juventus 6-1.

Speaking about welcoming the historic trophy to the Stadium of Light, chairman Niall Quinn …

Sunderland continued to show support for England’s 2018 World Cup bid, with a pitchside performance of the South African Diski Dance at The Stadium of Light.

The Diski Dance is the official dance for this summer’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa and was performed ahead of the Black Cats clash with Spurs, in front of over 43,000 people.

The Diski Dance is choreographed by putting together five simple football moves into the fast beat of traditional South African music …

BT and England 2018 launch the official supporters’ photo flag at bt.com/2018

England striker, Peter Crouch, joined 1966 World Cup winner, Geoff Hurst and official sponsors BT at Wembley Stadium yesterday to boost the bid to bring the FIFA World CupTM to England in 2018 by inviting people to put their faces on the official supporters’ flag to mark their support*.

The football stars launched the national rally to back the bid by signing their …