Mihir Bose

England’s botched bid to stage the 2018 World Cup

The murky world of football politics requires special skills which our team seems to lack, says Mihir Bose

issue 21 November 2009
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To understand how World Cup bids are won, let me take you to the third-floor suite of Dolder Grand hotel overlooking Lake Zurich. The date is May 2004 and the cast as high-powered as you would expect in any political summit. There was Thabo Mbeki, then president of South Africa, and Nelson Mandela, his predecessor.

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