FA appoint 2018 bid executives
The FA want to bring the competition back to England
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Wednesday, 21, Nov 2007 09:13
The Football Association (FA) have appointed two former Fifa advisors to act as external consultants as they prepare to bid for the 2018 World Cup.
European Consultancy Network ltd (ecn) have been give the contract, and they are run by Peter Hargitay and Markus Siegler, who have worked together within Fifa's management structure for over six years.
Hargitay has been a special adviser to the Fifa president Sepp Blatter since 2002, while Siegler is a former Fifa communications director and worked within the organisation for more than 12 years.
Siegler left Fifa in October to join ecn and although Hargitay has been performing dual roles with ecn and Fifa he is also set to resign from the governing body to ensure he has no conflict of interest during the bid process.
A spokesman for The FA said: "We are delighted to be working with a company that has huge knowledge and experience of international football associations and great individual contacts within the world game.
"We expect a highly competitive bidding process with several countries from three continents already having voiced an interest to bid for the 2018 World Cup, and it is very important we have such international experience working with us."
With Fifa's bidding process notoriously involves a lot of politicking so the acquisition of two former Fifa employees could be shrewd move by the FA.
Although the FA is yet to formally announce its intention to bid for the 2018 tournament both Sepp Blatter and prime minister Gordon Brown have offered encouragement.