Beckham to hand over the England 2018 Bid Book
Mon 10th May 2010 | FIFA
David Beckham will front the presentation of England's 2018 World Cup bid book to FIFA in Zurich on Friday according to the BBC.
Officials from the 2018 bid are set to confirm on Monday that the ex-England captain will hand the submission to FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
England’s 2018Bid leaders believe Beckham's status as a global footballing icon will give England an edge over their rivals.
The final decision will made on who hosts the 2018 and 2022 hosts in December.
Each of the bidding countries must enter hundreds of pages of technical information outlining details of venues, training camps, ticketing, government guarantees, transport and, crucially, estimates for how much the World Cup will cost to stage and how much income it will generate.
This is likely to be a crucial factor in FIFA's assessment of each of the bids as they have indicated they do not want countries overstretching themselves as the world still comes to terms with the fall-out from the global economic downturn.
England's bid team are seeing that as a major boost to their chances as they believe they offer FIFA a safe bet after riskier World Cups in South Africa this summer and Brazil in 2014.
Beckham's role as an ambassador for England's bid could be crucial in the absence of a global football statesman or Lord Coe type figure to front the Football Association's campaign.
A bid source said: "David Beckham is a global football icon and a great role model and it is entirely appropriate that he should hand over the bid."
Each bid will be assessed by a team of FIFA inspectors later in the year before a report will be prepared for the 24 members of the FIFA executive committee, which will make its decision in December.
With Europe widely expected to be given the 2018 World Cup, the contest is expected to be a three-way fight between England, Russia and a joint bid from Spain and Portugal.
Australia, the United States and Belgium-Netherlands are also in the running.
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