August 17, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 3, 1428

LONDON, Aug 16: The English Football Association wants an explanation of FIFA vice president Jack Warner’s claims that England won’t host the 2018 World Cup. “We have written to him to ask him to explain himself,” FA chief executive Brian Barwick said Thursday. “We have asked and we do intend to know what he meant.

“I think they were deeply personal comments because I think FIFA distanced themselves from them very quickly. They were unusual and came out of the blue. CONCACAF is a federation we support.”

Warner is president of CONCACAF, the soccer governing body of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Under FIFA’s current policy of rotating the World Cup through different continents, the 2018 tournament would be in that region. However, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said the system of rotation could end after the 2014 tournament.

In an interview with the BBC earlier this month, Warner said he would “fight to the very end” to stop FIFA from changing its policy, and ridiculed England’s chances of hosting the tournament even if the rules did change.

“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,” said Warner, who is from Trinidad and Tobago. “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.”—AP