25 Nov 2009Portsmouth scraps FIFA World Cup plans

Football Leagues/ Association and Governance | Football Technology and Stadia

Portsmouth has withdrawn its application to become a host city at the 2018 FIFA World Cup bid.

Individual submissions from the candidate cities are due to be delivered to Wembley on Thursday (November 26th), but Portsmouth decided to pull out of the process after the city council opted not to approve the application.

The withdrawal leaves 15 cities in the running to stage FIFA World Cup football should England be selected to host the tournament in 2018.

Chief executive of England 2018 Andy Anson said that Portsmouth City Council's lack of support for the application was a "surprising and sad outcome".

He added: "Along with the other cities involved, Portsmouth had shown great enthusiasm for the project."

According to BBC Sport, between 12 and 18 stadiums from about ten cities will ultimately be chosen to form part of England's bid and a decision is expected on December 16th.

Four of the potential host cities - London, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield - will submit proposals containing more than one stadium.

Written by Terry Mitchell

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