Rumours are spreading fast that England lost its bid for the 2018 World Cup because of the media investigations by BBC’s Panorama, along with the Sunday Times, that turned up corruption on the FIFA executive committee.
This speculation is being fuelled by statements from a Japanese member of that very committee, Junji Ogura. Ogura says that the media investigations absolutely turned the committee against England, which was knocked out during the first round after only gathering up two votes.
He said that the investigations caused damage. To him, it appeared that England would be a strong contender for the bid, but that all changed after the media investigations.
It was further alleged that Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, gave an address to the executive committee members before their votes, reminding them about the evils of media. This information was revealed by England’s bid boss, Andy Anson. Anson reported that someone in the room at the time told him about Blatter’s comments. All Anson would say was if that were true, it certainly would not have helped England’s cause at all.