By Duncan Mackay
November 22 – Qatar today signed a €17 billion (£15 billion) rail project with Deutsche Bahn that will play an important role in transporting football fans around the country if it is awarded the 2022 World Cup.
By Duncan Mackay
November 22 – Australia has recruited Andreas Abold (pictured), who helped Germany win its bid to host the 2006 World Cup and South Africa 2010, to give its campaign to stage the tournament in 2018 or 2022 a major boost.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 21 – England’s campaign to stage the 2018 World Cup would have died on its feet had FIFA vice-president Geoff Thompson (pictured) been left without a role to play, a senior bid source has exclusively told insideworldfootball.
By David Owen
November 20 – Russia might have crashed out of the 2010 World Cup last night, but its bid to stage the tournament in 2018 or 2022 appears to be gathering momentum.
By Duncan Mackay
November 19 – England’s 2018 World Cup bid is set to save £50,000 on transporting David Beckham (pictured) to South Africa to promote its campaign after Los Angeles Galaxy cancelled its post-season tour of Germany.
November 19 – South African organisers of the 2010 World Cup today held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony at its headquarters in Johannesburg after Uruguay by the 32nd nation to qualify for next year’s tournament, meaning the line-up of nations is now complete.
November 18 – Concerns among the States in Australia over the country’s bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup will be discussed by a special Government group in Queensland next month.
November 17 – Vitaly Mutko (pictured) will step down next week as President of the Russian Football Union (RFU) because it clashes with his position as the country’s Sports Minister and he is set to be replaced by Sergei Kapkov, a close friend of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
November 17 – A petition has been launched by football fans in San Diego to support the city’s bid to be part of the World Cup if the United States is chosen to host the 2018 or 2022 tournament.
November 17 – Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe (pictured) has claimed that it was his idea for England 2018 to streamline its Board so that it could focus on the campaign to bring the World Cup back to the country for the first time since 1966.
By Tom Degun
November 17 – England have been warned by Tony Woodcock (pictured), one of its high-profile ambassadors, that they are behind European rivals Russia and Spain and Portugal’s joint bid in the race to host the 2018 World Cup.
By Duncan Mackay
November 16 – Simon Greenberg (pictured), the communications and public affairs director at Chelsea, has been appointed as chief of staff for England’s 2018 World Cup bid with special responsibilities with strategic communications.
November 16 – England 2018 will promote their bid to host the World Cup at the Soccerex Global Convention in South Africa later this month to bring the total of rival bidders taking a presence in Johannesburg to six, over half of those competing to stage the event.
By David Owen
November 16 – A World Cup in the United States could attract a staggering five million live spectators, according to a top 2018/2022 US bid committee official.
By Duncan Mackay in Doha
November 15 – England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup is doing as well as its rivals, Mohamed Bin Hammam (pictured), the President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), said here today.