Vanuatu to Host 2026 World Cup

After the disappointment of not getting the World Cup, Tony has come up with a little something you may enjoy!

Once again England’s hopes of hosting the World Cup were dashed as rank outsiders Vanuatu were the shock choice of FIFA delegates.

The tiny Pacific nation, which discovered huge oil reserves off its coastline in 2011, has a population of just 221,506. It was widely considered to have the weakest technical bid.

The country currently has only two stadiums, the largest of which has a capacity of just 10,000. Other perceived problems included the comparative inaccessibility of the archipelago and its shortage of suitable accommodation (the capital, Port Vila, has just 3,400 hotel rooms).

Climatologists have also raised concerns that rising sea levels due to global warming may mean that games are played under water.

The surprise choice continues FIFA’s policy of opening up new football markets. President of the Vanuatu Bid Team, Deputy Prime Minister Paul Chumbawumba, argued the point strongly in his country’s presentation.
“The rest of the world has had plenty of World Cups. Melanesia, indeed the whole vast Pacific region, has never hosted a single one. Surely 2026 must be our time.”

FIFA President Septic Bladder (107) hailed the choice as “another significant step forward for the development of football around the world. I am confident that Vanuatu will make the world proud in 2026”.

England’s delegation left disappointed once again. Widely thought to have learned the lessons of its failure in the 2018 bid (lack of leadership within the FA, media allegations of corruption within FIFA and an over-preponderance of Aston Villa supporters in the bid team), confidence had been high leading up to the vote.
Afterwards, head of the bid team Simon Cowell, clearly furious at the turn of events, would state only that he was ”gutted”.

Questions will now be asked why England, who were again knocked out at the first stage of voting, failed to garner a single vote, despite having a delegate on the FIFA Executive.

That delegate is Sir Humphrey Bumfrey, former chairman of the Rutland FA. He sparked controversy in 2012 when, as MP for Blinding and Effingham, he was involved in an expenses scandal.

He had claimed £3,278 for ‘a wellness programme’, which later turned out to involve a series of soapy body massages. He claimed at the time that it had been due to an ‘administrative error’.

Sir Humphrey was unavailable for comment last night, but a representative said that he may have ticked the wrong box by mistake. “This was clearly an administrative error”.