Richards Named On 2018 World Cup Bid Team

After much criticism for the lack of Premier League representation on the board, Sir Dave Richards, chairman of the English top-flight, has been named as deputy chairman of England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Richards, who missed out in the first round of appointments last year, will focus on international relations.

The appointment means that England’s 2018 World Cup bid team is one of the strongest ever assembled.

Said Richards: ‘Bringing the FIFA World Cup to England would be fantastic for the game in this country. Along with my colleagues, I will be doing all I can to make that a reality.’

Richards will work alongside fellow deputy chairmen Football League chief Lord Mawhinney and Manchester United chief executive David Gill, while Lord Coe and Sir Keith Mills, two members of London’s successful 2012 Olympic bid team, have roles as non-executive directors.

Since being made Premier League chairman in 1999, Richards has overseen its rapid commercial growth with total revenues more than doubling from £1bn to in excess of £2.25bn.

FIFA has confirmed the 11 candidates to make official bids to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 after the deadline for applications passed this week.

Nine are interested in staging the tournament in either 2018 or 2022, while two are just bidding for 2022.

Those to apply for both were England, Russia, Australia, the USA, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia and joint bids from Portugal-Spain and Netherlands-Belgium.

Qatar and South Korea have applied to host the 2022 tournament only.

The next stage for the applicants is to submit their bidding agreements by 11th December, with FIFA’s 24-man executive committee choosing the winning candidates in December 2010.