England ready to host 2022 World Cup if stripped from Qatar, says culture secretary John Whittingdale
Culture secretary John Whittingdale has said England is ready to host the 2022 World Cup if Qatar is stripped of the tournament over corruption claims.
Read more: Dyke urges Platini to lead World Cup boycott
Answering a culture question the commons, the Conservative MP said England would be ready to host the tournament in seven years' time but admitted such a scenario was unlikely.
Whittingdale said:
If it were decided to change [the 2022 World Cup], I think as the chairman of the English FA observed, if Russia hosts the World Cup in 2018 it does seem very unlikely that another European country would host it in 2022.
But obviously if Fifa came forward and asked us to consider hosting it, we have the facilities in this country and of course did mount a very impressive, if unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
Read more: Fifa – No revote on Qatar World Cup 2022 or Russia World Cup 2018
The comments follow the revelation that the FBI's investigation into corruption at Fifa will look at the bidding process for both the Russia and Qatar World Cups.
Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has called for a revote if any corruption evidence is uncovered in the Qatar bid, but admitted the US would be a more likely destination for an alternative 2022 World Cup as Fifa doesn't allow for two consecutive tournaments to be held on the same continent.