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LONDON - Fifa vice-president Jack Warner believes England is so unpopular as a footballing nation that its bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals is doomed.
In a BBC World Service interview to be broadcast on Saturday, Warner dismissed England's chances even if Fifa's rotation policy brings
the finals to Europe in 11 years' time.
"If by chance, in 2018, the World Cup were to go to Europe, I'm quite sure, with the English luck as it is, they won't get it," Warner was quoted as saying in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
"It'll be Italy, Spain, or it might even be France. Nobody in Europe likes England.
"England - who invented the sport - has never had any impact on world football. England at no time has had the love and support of Europe. For Europe, England is an irritant."
Warner is president of Concacaf, which runs the game in north and central America, along with the Caribbean - a zone which could produce its own bid for the 2018 finals.
The 2006 tournament was in Germany, 2010 will be held in South Africa and Brazil is expected to be the host nation in 2014. Fifa is currently reviewing its policy on rotation.
Aware that England has some support for a bid to host the World Cup for the first time since winning it in 1966, Warner said: "There are moves to give it to England. I must fight that.
"I really don't believe that we should just lay down and play dead to anyone who wants to take the World Cup from Concacaf.
"I know in Fifa there are those persons who believe the rules should be changed to satisfy Europe but I tell you this today we shall fight it to the very end."
Warner's views contrast with those of Franz Beckenbauer, who like Warner is a member of Fifa's 24-strong executive committee, which decides the World Cup hosts.
Beckenbauer, a World Cup winner as a player and manager, and who headed the organising committee of the 2006 finals, said less than two weeks ago that England were the 2018 favourites and praised its Premier League and stadia.
The United States, Australia and China have all expressed interest in hosting the 2018 finals, while in Europe the three Benelux countries - Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - have already announced a combined bid.
The final decision is due to be taken in 2012, shortly after London hosts the Olympic Games.
- REUTERS