England has dropped their complaint with Russia after the Russian bid for the 2018 World Cup issued an apology to the English. Earlier in the week, Russian bid leader Alexey Sorokin spoke about London's high crime rate and youth drinking problem, which the English took offense to and went on to file a complaint with FIFA about. Russia sports minister Vitaly Mutko apologized not long after to the England bid chairman Geoff Thompson and Thompson stated that the complain had been withdrawn, the apology accepted and that the bid team wishes "to move on from this matter."
England Drops Russia Complaint After Apology
The England and Russia bids are considered the two favorites to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup, which will be awarded in Zurich, Switzerland on December 2. Joint bids from Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and Belgium are also bidding to host the world's biggest sporting event in 2018, but FIFA prefernce to have a single country bid and the strength of both the English and Russian bids have made them the two clear favorites
This is not the first time that the English and Russian bids have been involved in controversy. Lord David Triesman was recorded accusing Spain and Russia of attempted to bribe 2010 World Cup referees in May and it led to Triesman stepping down as both member of the FA and the chairman of the 2018 England World Cup Bid Committee.
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