The notion of Ireland co-hosting the World Cup finals with England in 2006 has been mooted by the Fianna Fail MEP Mr Niall Andrews at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He was speaking after MEPs met the former soccer stars Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst from the England 2006 World Cup Committee. Mr Andrews said he fully supported England's bid to stage the 2006 finals, and he raised the possibility of Dublin hosting a number of the matches if the bid was successful.
"In fact the English FA should look to possibly re-evaluating its bid so as to inform FIFA that some of the World Cup matches could be held in Dublin," said Mr Andrews, a supporter of Shamrock Rovers.
He explained that when France hosted the World Cup last year there were 32 participating teams, with eight different groups comprising four teams each. "Dublin city would be well equipped with the appropriate sporting facilities to host one of these qualifying group rounds and possibly one or two of the later-round matches." In 2002, he said, Japan and Korea would co-host the World Cup. "This may well set the trend that one particular country will not secure an entitlement to host all the World Cup matches within its individual territories."