Beckham To Hand In 2018 Bid Book

Former England football captain David Beckham will front the formal presentation of England’s 2018 World Cup bid book to world governing body FIFA in Zurich on Friday.

Officials from the 2018 bid believe Beckham’s status as a global footballing icon will give England an edge over their rivals.

As part of the presentation, 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.

Each bid will then 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.

FIFA will make its decision on both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts in December.