British premier Cameroon to miss World Cup inspection visit

Aug 16, 2010, 15:02 GMT

London - British Prime Minister David Cameroon is to miss next week's FIFA inspection of England's 2018/2022 bid to host the World Cup.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will represent the government and will welcome the FIFA inspection team for their four-day visit, a bid statement said.

Cameroon telephoned FIFA president Joseph Blatter on Sunday evening to explain he is on holiday with his family.

'He asked for his apologies to be passed on to the FIFA Inspection Team for his absence from the visit due to a long-standing family holiday and said he was looking forward to welcoming Blatter to Downing Street in the autumn,' the statement said.

'He has recorded a personal video message for the FIFA Inspection Team.'

The inspection team is currently visiting the Russian bid after arriving in St Petersburg Monday.

Chile FA president Harold Mayne-Nicholls, head of the six-person delegation, vowed to provide an 'objective and realistic' assessment of Russia's potential, according to Interfax news agency.

It will be looking at four potential venues, training centres, planned media centre and fan fest sites.

FIFA's executive committee is to decide the hosts for both 2018 and 2022 tournaments in Zurich on December 2.

Along with England and Russia, candidates for 2018 and 2022 are the United States, and the Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal as combined bids.

Japan, South Korea, Qatar and Australia have submitted bids for 2022. dpa bvi bwh