Stop Moaning England...

I have loads of friends who are English and love to travel to that country myself, but the reactions follow their loss against Russia in the 2018 FIFA World Cup bidding campaign is just disgraceful. It reminds me of the English reactions in 2000 when they lost out to Germany to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Beckenbauer and co had then simply done better lobby work, this time around it were the Russians. But I am not going to rate how they did it...

So wake-up, you surely have in the English Premier League the most popular league in the world, you are the motherland of the beautiful game and in the technical assessment of the study group got the best marks, but that doesn't guarantee you the hosting rights for a football World Cup. In today's world of FIFA these factors actually count little as it a matter of power, influence and money. You know what the rules are, so play the game accordingly or leave it.

Then there is a very interesting point. If one looks at the hosts of the FIFA World Cup's since 1990 then only two established football markets hosted the tournament - Italy in 1990 and Germany in 2006. The others were developing and even new football markets, be it 1994 USA (before the start of the MLS), 1998 France (only became a proper football nation after the 1998WC win), 2002 in Japan & South Korea (the first Asian WC) plus 2010 in South Africa (the first African WC). Now FIFA will send the World Cup to Russia and Qatar, and I believe that India now stands a real chance to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The only thing is we have to bid for it...

Then there is the English FA's strained relationship with the football authorities. FIFA president Sepp Blatter openly supported Russia, while UEFA president Michel Platini supported the Netherlands/Belgium in Round 1 and Russia in Round 2. So who is doing the lobby work with the key players in world football?

Then there is the problem that many countries around the world these days say the English Premier League is harming the growth of local football. Especially in Asia a lot of federations are unhappy about the EPL's popularity and want local channels to air less EPL. Some still haven't forgotten the idea of matchday 39 being played around the world.

England went into the vote thinking they are in the race, but in the end weren't even close in having a chance to win...