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SMU Soccer Supports The United States' World Cup Bid
Dallas-Fort Worth one of 18 Bid Cities

	SMU Soccer supports the USA's World Cup Bid

April 19, 2010

In December 2010, FIFA, soccer's governing body will select the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and the United States is one of 11 nations in the process of bidding for the events. SMU's soccer programs support America's World Cup bid and fans can as well by signing the online petition at gousabid.com.

Dallas-Fort Worth is one of 18 bid cities that will be presented to FIFA as part of the United States' bid. The Cotton Bowl, which hosted games during the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and Cowboys' Stadium could host World Cup matches.

SMU's soccer facility, Westcott Field, was built for the 1994 World Cup as a practice facility for teams preparing for games at the Cotton Bowl.

Currently, the U.S.'s competition in the bidding process includes: Australia, Belgium- Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, South Korea, and Spain-Portugal.

The United States last hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994 and it still holds the record for the highest attendance in history with an average of 69,000 fans per game and 3.6 million attendees overall. The tournament was one of the most exciting in recent memory with Brazil defeating Italy in a penalty-kick shootout. The U.S. National Team advanced to the round of 16 in 1994 before losing to the eventual champions.

The 2010 and 2014 World Cups have been awarded to South Africa and Brazil, respectively.