Bin Hammam likely to snub Australia bid

Australia's World Cup bid has suffered an untimely setback with Asian Football
Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam effectively promising his vote to Qatar
to host the 2022 tournament.
Bin Hammam's comments couldn't come at a worse time for Football Federation
Australia, which has spent the past three days trying to impress a six-man FIFA
inspection team in town to assess the country's bid credentials.
Qatari Hammam, one of 24 FIFA executives who will vote on hosts for the 2018 and
2022 tournaments on December 2 in Zurich, has vowed to support his home nation
unless it is not a realistic chance.
"I have one vote ... And frankly speaking, I will vote for Qatar.
"But if Qatar is not in the run, I will vote for another Asian country," Bin Hammam
said at a football forum in Singapore on Wednesday.
"I am president of Asia so it is my duty to see that World Cup will be hosted in
Asia no matter which country."
Qatar has emerged as one of Australia's biggest rivals for the 2022 tournament, with
the US another strong candidate and South Korea and Japan also in the running.
The six FIFA delegates in Australia were shown a presentation on the 10 potential
host cities and 12 stadiums at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre on final
day of their three-day visit on Wednesday.
The inspection team was due to fly to Newcastle, one of the potential host cities,
but the visit was cancelled due to heavy rain and they were instead taken to Darling
Harbour's Sydney Wildlife World to see the resident 4.8-metre saltwater crocodile.
They had earlier attended a breakfast meeting with some of Australia's leading
business figures.
The FIFA inspection team was headed by Chilean Football Federation President Harold
Mayne-Nicholls and also included chief executive of the 2010 South Africa World Cup
organising committee Danny Jordaan, FIFA Head of Event Management Jurgen Muller,
FIFA Marketing representative David Fowler, FIFA Competitions representative Julio
Avellar and FIFA Media Officer Wolfgang Eichler.
Australia was the third stop on tour of the nine countries that are bidding to host
either the 2018 or 2022 tournaments.



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