The bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups by England and Australia have been dealt a severe blow after the world football governing body (FIFA) noted that the events would coincide with local sporting events including tennis at Wimbledon and Australia rugby league.

The rules are very clear that the event does not coincide with other sporting events in the host nation. This is because the other events may give divided attention on the FIFA event.

The other fear is that the events are to have an impact in the returns to be gained from the event. These were indicated an evaluation report by FIFA and went on to say that the fact that the Queen’s birthday, public holiday, is held on the second Monday of June in many of the states will have a negative impact on the cities hosting the tournament.

The England bid failed to mention the Queens birthday which is usually held for a Saturday in June and not its actual date of April 21st.

Thought it is not clear on the dates the month long event will commence or end it is usually held in late June to mid July and will be in a European nation.

The controversy is that Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament, since 1877, held within the same period. The England bidders never considered the tennis tournament as a threat to their plan.

What most find baffling is the fact that other countries have hosted the prestigious tournament concurrently with other tournaments in the country and FIFA have never had an issue with that. The latest event in South Africa coincided with three rugby internationals by the Springboks.
All other requirements from England are in order except training sites accommodation.

For Australia it is the distance between the venues and overreliance on air transport and the time difference.

Australian are said to have a strong evaluation including on its stadiums and the time difference. Other nations in the running to host the event are Spain-Portugal, Russia and Netherlands and Belgium. The announcement is due on Dec. 2.
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