NEWS

The Japan Football Association have sent a letter to FIFA, football’s world governing body, confirming their interest in hosting either the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup.

“We, the Japan Football Association, express our intention to submit bids to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 and 2022 for the purpose of developing Japanese football and sports in general,” JFA President Motoaki Inukai stated.
“In order to make these bids a reality and to make the strongest possible attempt, we want the football world to be united,” he stressed.
To clear the FIFA requirement of a large-capacity stadium available to stage the opening and final matches, the JFA will offer their full support to Tokyo in their bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Should the Tokyo Olympic bid be successful, Tokyo will build a 100,000-seat stadium.
“The success of the Tokyo Olympic bid is vital to us to resolve the stadium issue,” Inukai noted. “We’ll do everything we can to help them be successful in their bid.”
FIFA required member associations interested in staging the 2018 and 2022 tournaments to submit a letter of interest confirming such by February 2.
The decision on the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be made at a FIFA Executive Committee meeting in December 2010.