Press Association
Friday 12th March 2010
The world's most successful footballing country has delivered a fresh lifeline to England's under-fire bid to host the World Cup in 2018.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the time was right for the tournament to come back to Britain for the first time since 1966.
His comments came as England 2018 bid chairman Lord Triesman admitted he had made mistakes during his campaign.
President Lula told Channel 4 News: "I think now is the time for the UK to host a Fifa cup again. I believe that the last one that England hosted, the first and only one, was in 1966.
"And so that's already been 44 years ago that the UK hosted the Fifa cup.
"The soccer that England has been presenting and the capacity of their clubs and by the competitive insurance for finance and investments I believe that England will always have the competence and will always be a country that will have a great force, great strength to win bid for the Fifa cup."
Speaking on the programme, Lord Triesman, who is flying to South Africa this week for England's World Cup draw, said Brazil's backing was "really important".
He added that Mr Lula had been "a huge advocate of English football - he loves it".
A crisis was sparked among England's bid leadership last month with internal arguments culminating in a reshuffle of the board. There was further turmoil earlier this week when Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards resigned his position on the board.
