England ready to host 2022 World Cup in place of Qatar, culture secretary says

England would be ready to host the 2022 World Cup if it was taken away from Qatar, the culture secretary has told MPs, while conceding it was a very unlikely prospect.
Answering ministerial questions in the Commons, John Whittingdale called for major change within Fifa following the decision of Sepp Blatter to step down as president, amid growing allegations about corruption within world football’s governing body and questions over the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 event to the Gulf state.
“In order to achieve the reforms that all of us believe are vitally necessary for Fifa the first requirement was a change of leadership,” he said on Thursday morning. “We have now obtained that, but that is the beginning of the process, certainly not the end of it.”
Whittingdale said it was partly up to the English FA and other national associations to ensure any new Fifa leadership was “properly committed” to reform, saying also that UK fraud authorities would work closely with their Swiss and US counterparts as needed.He was asked by Richard Graham, the Conservative MP for Gloucester, whether England “would be in a position” to host the 2022 World Cup if it was removed from Qatar.
“In terms of the decision to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, that is obviously something where we’re watching the investigation, but obviously that decision stands,” Whittingdale replied.
“If it were decided to change that, I think as the chairman of the English FA observed, if Russia hosts the World Cup in 2018 it would seem very unlikely that another European country would host it in 2022.
“But obviously, if Fifa came forward and asked us to consider hosting it, we have the facilities in this country, and of course we did mount a very impressive if unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 World Cup.”
The shadow culture secretary, Chris Bryant, asked if UK broadcasters should refuse to pay for TV rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups if the bid process for hosting them was not re-opened.
Whittingdale said he hoped the bids would be re-run, adding: “However, if the World Cup goes ahead I think it would be unfair to tell English fans, and indeed fans of the other home nations, if their sides qualify, that they would not be able to watch their sides competing in the World Cup because the broadcasters weren’t going to purchase the sports rights to cover it.”