UEFA president Michel Platini suggested that his organisation would be ‘open to all options’ when questioned on whether teams might withdraw from the flagship tournament if Sepp Blatter is re-elected as the president of FIFA – the organisation currently fighting corruption allegations.
“Being a sports bar we need the world cup, it’s great for us,” publican Scott Murray, of Bar Sport Cannock in Staffordshire said. “If European teams pull out it will affect business but my heart says they should pull out. It [the allegations] stink, it’s rancid.”
Philip Cutter, landlord of the Murderers in Timberhill, Norwich said: “From a footballing perspective it would be really sad [if European clubs withdrew]. That would give a certain generation of footballers no World Cup tournament.”
However, Cutter added that the ‘poor showing’ by England in the last World Cup did not result in a sharp uptake of business.
“The qualifying rounds did bring in quite a lot of trade for us but by the time we played Uruguay in the final game we weren’t very busy because people knew we’d been eliminated.”
Benefit
Keith Bannister, licensee of Harleys Bar, Stavely, Derbyshire insisted that World Cup trade depended on a number of factors not least the timing of matches.
“If the games are on in the early hours of the morning or the middle of the afternoon when people are at work pubs aren’t going to benefit from it,” he said. “The sorry part about all of this is that pubs are going to catch a cold with it [if European clubs boycott the event]… The people at the top make all the money and the people at the bottom, the fans and the pubs don’t benefit.”
Budweiser brewer AB InBev, a corporate sponsor of FIFA said:
"We expect the next FIFA presidency to resolve internal issues, install positive change and adhere to strong ethical standards and transparency. Through our sponsorship, we have time and again seen the power of soccer in bringing people together and this is what FIFA must represent for football fans around the globe."