U.S. wins right to host 1994 World Cup finals

Press, 6 July 1988, Page 44

U.S. wins right to host 1994 World Cup finals

NZPA-Reuter Zurich The United States on Monday won the right to host the 1994 World Cup finals, taking the tournament away from the traditional soccer centres of Europe and South America for the first time. The executive committee of the International Football Federation voted to accept the U.S. bid over two other candidates, Morocco and Brazil.

The U.S. won 10 votes, Morocco seven and Brazil two, F.I.F.A.’s senior vicepresident, Mr Harry Cavan, announced.

Since its inauguration in 1930, the four-yearly World Cup has always been held in either Europe, South or Central America.

The 1986 Cup took place in Mexico and the 1990 finals will be held in Italy. F.I.F.A.’s Brazilian president, Mr Joao Havelange, and a second Brazilian on the 21strong executive committee, Mr Abilio d’Almeida, did not vote. Neither the United States nor Morocco are represented on the decision-mak-ing body.

The vote in favour of the U.S. bid had been widely expected. All sides acknowledged the Americans had a strong case in terms of the massive infrastructure and economic strength needed to stage a 24 : nation, month-long tournament involving anything up to 18 stadiums or cities. Even before the decision was announced, the president of the Brazilian soccer federation, Mr Octavio Pinto Guimaraes, said the die was cast.

“We no longer have any interest in the outcome. The Brazilian Government has not given us the necessary financial support, so we have no chance,” he said. Mr Driss Bamous, president of the Moroccan soccer federation, said the vote had its positive aspects for his and other countries.

Morocco’s was the first bid ever made by an African nation to stage the World Cup.

The president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, Mr Werner Fricker, said he was pleased that 15 months of

hard work, lobbying and preparing the bid, had paid off. “It is a tremendous feeling of relief that it is all over,"

He rejected suggestions that F.I.F.A.’s decision was made on business rather than sporting grounds and countered criticisms that the U.S. did not have the expertise in soccer necessary to host a World Cup finals series.

But the commercial advantages of having the tournament in the United States were clear to F.I.F.A.’s marketing agents, ISL, who negotiate multi-million-dollar sponsorship packages with large companies that bring F.I.F.A. a large slice of its income and profits. “The missing link (in the commercial exploitation of soccer) was the U. 5.,” said the ISL president, Mr Klaus Hempel. The American presentation to F.I.F.A. put forward 18 stadiums as possible World Cup sites, including the Pasadena Rose Bowl, where the first 100,000 crowds ever in the United States for soccer were recorded during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.