David Beckham says England’s World Cup bid team will have a difficult job winning the hosting rights for 2018.
The England midfielder spoke Thursday after coaching children from a township in Cape Town to promote the England Football Association’s international development work. Supporting social projects is seen as a key part of a bid package.
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Beckham said he had an important role to play as a bid ambassador.
“Nothing in life is easy. You have to work for special things to be given to you,” Beckham said. “I’m well aware of how important it is for my country. It’s a difficult thing.”
England’s bid leaders hope Beckham’s worldwide appeal can generate momentum and goodwill after an unsteady start to their campaign.
“There has been some negative stuff said about the bid but you can be sure people are working hard to get this for the country,” Beckham said at a school in Khaylitsha Township, where he spoke with 30 children involved in the Coaching for Hope program.
Beckham has experience in swaying an important vote England’s way. His last-minute lobbying of International Olympic Committee members four years ago is credited with getting crucial votes for London to host the 2012 Olympics.
“That was very special but that was not my sport,” Beckham said. “But now it’s a chance to help my sport and being involved in the World Cup, which for me is the biggest event in the world.
“Football is in our culture, in our DNA, it’s in us from the moment we are brought into this world, from when we are born and that’s something we will always have.”
England is among 10 candidates hoping to stage the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. FIFA’s 24-member ruling executive will choose the hosts next December.
