Three Lions make their best pitch for World Cup 2018 as English bid team flies to Zurich led by Prince William, David Cameron & David Beckham

Channel 4 News
November 30, 2010 World Cup 2018 bid heads to Zurich
Reporter Keme Nzerem in Zurich reports on England's bid to secure the FIFA World Cup competition in 2018. The omens are not looking good.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=693409974001

FIFA'S DIRTY SECRETS

The BBC Panorama program that's at the center of the FIFA World Cup bid controversy, Fifa's Dirty Secrets, is here, http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/default.stm where you can read about some of the accusations leveled against FIFA officials, but for copyright reasons, the program can't officially be seen in the U.S..
http://www.epltalk.com/how-you-can-watch-bbc-panorama-fifas-dirty-secrets-in-the-u-s-26989

Long story short: The alleged bribes to three officials are included in a confidential document listing 175 payments totalling about £64m.

Here are two videos on YouTube that comprise the FIFA'S DIRTY SECRETS program, so watch it while you can before the BBC makes them take the videos down.

BBC Panorama: FIFA'S DIRTY SECRETS - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjlZw9NGSlU

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BBC Panorama: FIFA'S DIRTY SECRETS - Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wQy4eT4M9I


The Channel 4 website article that accompanies this video at the top is here:

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Prince William, David Cameron and David Beckham fly to Zurich to try and boost England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup - but hopes have been dampened by the latest publication of bribery allegations. As delegates gathered to press the flesh at the headquarters of FIFA - football's governing body - ahead of Thursday's announcement of the winner, the English bid team have been frustrated by the timing of the BBC Panorama programme which accused three FIFA officials of taking bribes in the past.

Read the rest of it at:
http://www.channel4.com/news/world-cup-2018-bid-team-fly-to-zurich

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I wrote about the bid process on my blog on Monday and just loved Australia's bid videos, esp. the one hosted by Nicole Kidman, which emphasized the sorts of things that real fans care about: fun, safety and ease-of-access and no hassles.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/even-before-2018-2022-fifa-world-cup.html

As you know by now, the announcements about who'll be hosting the 2018 and 2022 FIFA spectacles are to be made on Thursday, or Friday Australian time.

Nicky Campbell talked on his BBC Radio 5 live show Tuesday morning with some very knowledgeable guests and well-informed listeners about Monday night's Panorama program and whether there'd be a backlash among the FIFA officials against England's bid to host in 2018, or whether the truth is more important than commerce.

The podcast for the informative program is here and well worth listening to:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/5lnpi/5lnpi_20101130-1045a.mp3


Tony Livesey’s show on BBC Radio 5 live on Thursday December 2nd will originate from the City of Manchester Stadium and "will gauge reaction to the FIFA World Cup vote which will have decided the host country for the 2018 World Cup."

"Win or lose, a panel of football pundits will discuss the result including former Hull Boss Phil Brown and 5 live football commentator Connor McNamara, and an audience of 5 live listeners."

It airs 10:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. U.K. time, or 5:30 p.m. Eastern/2:30 p.m. Pacific in the U.S. and Canada.

Catch it here at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live