Andy Burnham has renewed criticism of football's governing bodies, describing the fact that the UK has not hosted a World Cup since 1966 as "insane" and suggesting Fifa and Uefa may harbour a grudge against the home nations.
Speaking on the Away Days podcast, Burnham was pressed by host Ellis Platten, who pointed out that Britain has only ever staged the tournament once despite being the birthplace of football. "The fact we've only ever hosted one World Cup in Britain is insane to me," Platten said.
Burnham agreed, offering a pointed response about the motives of European and global football authorities. "Definitely. I don't know, it makes you wonder whether the authorities at the European and global level have something against us, I don't know," he said. "The country that invented the game, you know, you'd think we would have had a bit more of that attention. I have been part of Governments that have tried to bring the World Cup here, it's just the voting."
He went further, taking aim at the voting culture within football's corridors of power without naming specific individuals. "Let's be honest, some of the practices within football haven't supported even-handed decision-making. I'm being diplomatic here, but it's not good, is it?" Burnham remarked.
His comments stem from firsthand experience. As culture, media and sports secretary in Gordon Brown's cabinet, Burnham was involved in England's unsuccessful campaign to secure the 2018 World Cup, a bid that was ultimately awarded to Russia. That vote proved deeply controversial, with England receiving just two of 22 available votes from Fifa's executive committee amid persistent allegations of bribery within the bidding process.
The fallout from that episode, compounded by the scandal-ridden awarding of the 2022 tournament to Qatar, eventually contributed to the downfall of long-serving Fifa president Sepp Blatter along with several other senior figures in the organisation.
Burnham, a lifelong Everton supporter, has also directed criticism at Blatter's successor, Gianni Infantino, over a controversial plan to sell shares in the World Cup to private investors. Burnham has previously called on Infantino to step down, arguing he is not fit to lead the sport globally.
"I do not believe that he is the right man to lead football forward on the world stage," Burnham told journalists. "The plan that was put forward was offensive to many people, football people, around the world, and it can't be the case that we just move on and forget that, it wasn't acceptable."
Despite the long wait for another men's World Cup on home soil, the UK has not been entirely overlooked by tournament organisers in recent years. The nation has twice hosted matches at the men's European Championships, and fixtures at the 2028 edition of the tournament are set to be shared between the UK and Ireland.
Women's football has fared somewhat better in terms of hosting opportunities. The UK is scheduled to host the Women's World Cup in 2035, having already staged the Women's European Championships in both 2005 and 2022. The most recent of those tournaments proved a landmark moment for the sport, as England's women lifted the trophy on home turf for the first time in the competition's history.
Burnham's remarks add to a growing chorus of voices within English football questioning why the nation credited with inventing the modern game has been largely absent from World Cup hosting duties for six decades.
Based on reporting from Independent Football.