US president Barack Obama advocated a return of the World Cup to the US during a meeting with FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the White House.
Bloomberg reports that Blatter invited Obama to attend next year’s tournament in South Africa.
“We’ll use the opportunity of the meeting to advocate for the United States to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022,” said Josh Earnest, deputy White House press secretary, before the meeting.
Obama said at last month’s G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, that it was his “goal” to attend the World Cup in South Africa next June. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said many of the president’s senior staff were in favour of the trip, but no final decision had been made on it.
