NEWS

Thirteen stadiums from 12 local governments have filed applications to serve as World Cup match venues in the 2018 or 2022 tournament, it was revealed at a JFA executive committee meeting in Tokyo on Thursday.

The National Stadium and Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo, Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture and a new stadium in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture – provisionally called Gamba Osaka Stadium – joined nine stadiums that hosted matches in the 2002 World Cup.
Osaka’s Nagai Track and Field Stadium would be replaced by an 80,000-seat stadium that is being planned for an area near Osaka Station.
Meanwhile, 64 cities and towns have applied to serve as base camps for participating teams.
All the candidate cities and towns for venues and base camps will be listed in the Bid Book, which will be submitted to FIFA in May.
FIFA require a World Cup bidding nation to have 12 to 18 cities for match venues and a minimum of 64 cities/towns for team base camps.
“We are grateful to the efforts made by so many local governments,” JFA general secretary Kozo Tashima commented.
“We would like to make a wonderful Bid Book and win the bidding race. We want to show that Japan can help develop world football by hosting the World Cup.”
Besides Japan, Australia, the United States, England, Russia, Holland & Belgium and Spain & Portugal are standing for the 2018 and 2022 events, while Korea Republic, Indonesia and Qatar are running for the 2022 tournament alone. The successful candidates will be decided at a FIFA EXCO Meeting in December.

Venue candidates
Sapporo City　　Sapporo Dome
Ibaraki Prefecture　　Kashima Stadium
Saitama Prefecture　　Saitama Stadium
Tokyo　　Ajinomoto Stadium & National Stadium
Yokohama City　　Nissan Stadium
Niigata Prefecture　　Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium
Shizuoka Prefecture　　Ecopa Stadium
Toyota City　　Toyota Stadium
Osaka City　　Nagai Track and Field Stadium
Suita City　　Suita Stadium
Kobe City　　Homes Stadium Kobe or Kobe Universiade Stadium
Oita Prefecture　　Kyushu Oil Dome

Base camp candidates
Abashiri, Sapporo, Nanae-cho, Muroran, (Hokkaido Prefecture)
Tono, Hanamaki (Iwate Prefecture)
Akita, Nikaho (Akita Prefecture)
Yamagata Prefecture/Tendo (Yamagata Prefecture)
Fukushima Prefecture/Naraha-cho/Hirono-cho (Fukushima Prefecture)
Omitama, Kashima, Kamisu, Tsukuba, Hitachinaka, Mito (Ibraki Prefecture)
Narashino, Narita (Chiba Prefecture)
Kawasaki, Sagamihara (Kanagawa Prefecture)
Nagano, Matsumoto (Nagano Prefecture)
Itoigawa, Tokamachi, Nagaoka (Niigata Prefecture)
Kanazawa (Ishikawa Prefecture)
Gotemba, Shizuoka, Numazu, Fujieda (Shizuoka Prefecture)
Toyota (Aichi Prefecture)
Ise (Mie Prefecture)
Hida (Gifu Prefecture)
Otsu, Nagahama, Moriyama (Shiga Prefecture)
Sakai, Takatsuki (Osaka Prefecture)
Kobe (Hyogo Prefecture)
Nara Prefecture
Wakayama Prefecture
Izumo, Masuda (Shimane Prefecture)
Hiroshima (Hiroshima Prefecture)
Kagawa Prefecture
Tokushima Prefecture
Imabari, Saijo, Niihama, Matsuyama (Ehime Prefecture)
Kochi Prefecture
Kitakyushu, Fukuoka (Fukuoka Prefecture)
Shimabara, Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture (Nagasaki Prefecture)
Kumamoto Prefecture/Kumamoto City (Kumamoto Prefecture)
Saeki, Hita, Bungo-Ohno, Beppu (Oita Prefecture)
Ibusuki, Kirishima (Kagoshima Prefecture)