By Sportingintelligence 17 May 2011 France have won the right to stage the 2018 Ryder Cup, seeing off challenges from rival bids from Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. France’s campaign had a number of high-profile supporters from sports away from golf, including Manchester City’s Patrick Vieira, who outlined France’s Ryder Cup case to sportingintelligence […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 13 March 2011 . Manchester City’s Patrick Vieira has today voiced his strong support for France’s bid to stage the 2018 Ryder Cup, saying it represents the legacy option for golf in Europe. Vieira, 34, who won the football World Cup with France in an […]

By Pete Wilson 2 December 2010 Russia won the right to stage the 2018 World Cup today after a Fifa Executive Committee vote sent England crashing out in the first round. Qatar then landed the right to host the 2022 event after four rounds of voting, having led every round. The result means Fifa will […]

By Nick Harris in Zurich 2 December 2010 With only Russia still left to make their 2018 World Cup bid presentation, England remain favourites to win the right to host the event, with their odds coming in slightly after a slick presentation here featuring David Beckham, PM David Cameron and Prince William. All the presentations […]

By Nick Harris 18 November 2010 The battle for the right to stage the 2018 World Cup is wide open today as a race already full of twists and turns – with more to come – enters its final fortnight. After an investigation by Fifa’s ethics committee in the wake of reports of corruption by […]

By Alex Miller at the Leaders in Football Conference, London 7 October 2010 Mohamed bin Hammam, the Fifa ExCo member from Qatar and one of football’s major political figures, has said today that a lack of clear judging criteria may mean Fifa fails to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to the nations with […]

By Alex Miller at the Leaders in Football Conference, London 6 October 2010 England’s 2018 World Cup bid leader insisted today that the bid had recovered from the troubles it faced earlier in the campaign and delivered a confident assessment of the chances of winning the rights to host the tournament. Speaking at the Leaders […]

By Pete Wilson 6 October 2010 England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup steps up a level today with 18 pledges to target groups that could yet influence the choice of hosts for the tournament. In a carefully delivered message aimed at winning support from Fifa Executive Committe members, fans and the international media, the […]

20 September 2010 The statement below was released today by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation, announcing that David Beckham will launch a football festival in Trinidad this weekend. This highlights the influence of Beckham as a tool in the bid for England to win the right to stage the 2018 World Cup. A key […]

By Nick Harris 26 August 2010 Fifa’s inspection of England’s proposed facilities for the 2018 World Cup ended today in praise, and with reassurance that not seeing a Premier League game and not getting to meet the Prime Minister would not harm England’s chances of staging the event. David Cameron is on holiday, and his […]