England 2018 must do homework

While England prepares its bid for the 2018 World Cup, Jonny Payne asks European Under-21 tournament organisers for their advice on hosting a major championship in the modern era of fan parks, corporate hospitality and football tourism.

England will compete to host the 2018 World Cup finals; its first since 1966 - and we all know what happened there.

The last time England hosted a major international football tournament was in 1996, when Terry Venables’ men made it to the semi-finals only to lose a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out to old foes, Germany. If England does win the right to host the 2018 tournament then it will therefore be its first for 22 years.

Euro’96 was deemed to be a great success as football “came home”, captivating the nation; but the whole tournament experience has been evolving in recent years and England will need to keep up with the changes.

Look no further than the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The tournament saw the advent of fan parks; where fans without tickets can watch the matches, and fans with tickets can warm-up with a few pints, play some games and catch-up on football highlights. It is a tough act to follow.

Sweden hosted the European Under-21 Championships in June and tried to emulate the German idea of fan parks - albeit on a smaller scale. The idea seemed to work according to tournament organiser, Karl-Erik Nilsson.

“In a big European Championship the fan zones are there to take care of people who come without tickets in their thousands. The fan zones in a tournament such as the Under-21s are there because we want to keep up the interest for the tournament not only on match days, so this is a way to remind people that there is a tournament going on.”

Nilsson believes that the contribution of the host cities as well as some luck is vitally important for a successful competition. “The host cities are so important to create something more than just the matches. You also need some good luck with the weather, for example, and a quite successful home team because that keeps up the interest on a domestic level. The last two points you cannot plan for but you can hope for.”

Sweden was lucky in both respects; its team made it to the semi-final and the tournament took place in scorching sunlight throughout the two weeks.

Sweden has also launched a joint bid with Norway for Euro2016. Nilsson believes that by hosting the successful European under-21 Championships it could give them an advantage in the bidding process.

“If we do a good under-21 tournament and everything else between the bidders is equal of course this is a good memory for people who have been here and perhaps could act as a support for the Swedish bid. On the contrary, a bad performance here could have been negative so from that perspective it was important.”

Andreas Meimermondt, LOC (Local Organising Committee) project manager for Helsingborg agrees: “I definitely think that this tournament has increased Sweden’s chances of hosting a future major tournament. Sweden has put an application in for Euro2016 and it has never been hidden that this is a dress rehearsal or a show of faith for Euro2016.”

The west coast of Sweden was chosen as the venue for the tournament as opposed to Stockholm because, according to Nilsson, the host cities need to be close to one another in geographical terms. Something, which the former referee stresses, should be considered for England’s bid “The main thing is that you need to have venues not too far from each other because the team has to travel and you also need to have a good infrastructure.”

Hosting a tournament is a major part of the football history of the country something, Nilsson believes, England need to consider when hosting a World Cup. He said: “If England host the tournament it is important to remember that even if you are in the middle of hard work, you are writing a chapter in the history of English football and that’s a big thing and it’s easy to forget that when you are in your own world.”

Meimermondt believes that England should not toe the line for FIFA if they do win the right to stage the biggest football competition on the planet. “My advice to England is don’t be pushovers. It’s very easy to become pushovers to UEFA or FIFA in this. You have to adapt to their demands but you also have to make sure that you don’t compromise what is your reason to doing this and your drive in this process. And it’s very easily done.”

Thomas Walfridsson, the LOC project manager for Gothenburg states that the preparation for a championship is all-important. His advice for England 2018 is to “do your homework and then it will be a great tournament.” He adds: “If you are well prepared then it’s much easier. Start to plan everything in time.”

If England does win the right to host the World Cup it is evident that there is a lot of work to be done, but if it goes as smoothly as the Under-21 tournament, then it could potentially be one of the greatest shows on earth.