Sydney, July 26: A six-man delegation of FIFA inspectors arrived in Sydney on Monday to examine the credentials of Australia’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
The team, led by Chilean Football Federation President Harold Mayne-Nicholls, was treated to a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony welcome on the Sydney Opera House forecourt on the opening day of their three-day visit, Football Federation Australia said.
They were joined by FFA Chairman Frank Lowy and Federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis before hearing their first detailed briefing from the FFA Bid team.
Australia is the third stop on a tour of the nine countries bidding to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup tournaments.
The FIFA delegation has already visited Japan and South Korea and will then go on to inspect the Netherlands-Belgium, who are making a joint bid, Russia, England, Spain-Portugal, the United States and Qatar and will draw up reports on the feasibility of each bid.
Japan, South Korea, Australia and Qatar -- all members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) -- have submitted bids for 2022 only, while the others are seeking to host either 2018 or 2022.
FIFA's 24 executives will choose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts on December 2 in Zurich.
Ten host cities have been selected as part of Australia's bid and three new stadiums will be built in Perth, Canberra and in western Sydney.
Nine other stadiums will be upgraded should the bid be successful, FFA said.
FIFA have informed FFA that its delegation visit is exclusively for the purpose of inspecting stadiums and other critical infrastructure and delegates will not be available for interview during their visit to Australia.