A potential bid from New
Zealand to co-host the FIFA World Cup in 2026 or 2030 could
prove "a pipe dream" but the ambitious country are pressing on
with the bold plans, Martin Snedden told Reuters.
The former New Zealand cricketer, who headed the highly
successful 2011 rugby World Cup in the country, floated the
possibility of staging soccer's global showpiece with Australia
on Monday.
Snedden said the suggestion was still very much in its
embryonic stages, but he felt it was imperative the country
capitalised on hosting two highly successful world sporting
events in the last four years.
"This is a big idea and ultimately it might prove to be a
pipe dream, but we have come so far and these are the types of
things we should be prepared to be examining," he said via
telephone from Auckland.
"Even if ultimately we choose that we can't do it, these are
the sorts of opportunities that we are good enough to be looking
at and taking seriously."
Snedden, who co-helmed the bid for the recently completed
cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand when he was
running New Zealand Cricket, had said in the build-up to the
2011 rugby World Cup he hoped the legacy of the tournament would
be the creation of an event management industry in the country.
He had pointed to the skills and intellectual property in
sports management that Australia had built in their hosting of
the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which he felt was now replicated in
New Zealand, hence the decision to 'start the conversation'.
"I'm thrilled by the way in which New Zealand has proved its
capability with those two events. We are now on a bit of a roll.
"We have come a long way in a short time.
"We have a lot of capable people over New Zealand and a lot
of goodwill. If we wait too long and aren't aspirational then
that will dissipate."
A potential bid had been broached with central government,
New Zealand Football and Sports New Zealand, but they were yet
to approach Australia, he added.
He envisaged if a joint bid went ahead, Australia would host
70 percent of the tournament, with two or three of the eight
pools in New Zealand, with the four main centres of Auckland,
Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin earmarked as venues.
Football Federation Australia, who lost out to Qatar to
stage the 2022 tournament, declined to comment when contacted by
Reuters.
Snedden had been buoyed by FIFA's desire to spread the World
Cup around its confederations, with Oceania, where New Zealand
play, having never hosted the event.
New Zealand has, though, hosted FIFA's under-17 tournament
for men in 1999 and the inaugural women's edition in 2008 and
will stage the men's under-20s from May 30-June 20.
He acknowledged that having the tournament spread across two
confederations -- Australia are in FIFA's Asian region -- could
be a hurdle.
While still at this stage just an idea, Snedden said he
would look to gauge interest in New Zealand, before he went to
Australia to discuss a formal bid.
"What I'm trying to say to people is 'give it a bit of time,
don't make up your mind until we have given it some proper
consideration, because you might be surprised when you dig into
it'," he said.
"The best place for me to start is New Zealand and just seed
the conversation and encourage people to participate with an
open mind and then see where it leads us."
(Editing by Patrick Johnston)
(Reuters)
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