Italy enter World Cup hosting race
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:33
The Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) on Sunday entered the World Cup hosting race when it formally revealed its intentions to bid for the tournament in 2015 or 2019.
"At the moment we are waiting to have the documentation [from the International Rugby Board - IRB] with which to make our bid official," FIR president Giancarlo Dondi said in a statement.
"Successively we will be able to get to work on presenting the best project possible to the IRB in order to bring to Italy the world's third most important sporting event after the football World Cup and the Olympics."
The FIR said that the IRB would assign the 2015 and 2019 World Cups together in July 2009.
New Zealand will stage the next tournament in 2011.
"It's a new cornerstone in the development of Italian rugby, which the whole movement should be proud of," Dondi said.
England and Wales are considering making a joint bid for 2015, with Japan also set to bid for the same year.
The IRB began the tender process for the 2015 and 2019 tournaments this month by inviting "expressions of interest".
The IRB is expected to return to one of its 'bankers' in 2015 - with England or South Africa the most likely venue - although chairman Bernard Lapasset indicated rugby might be ready to broaden its horizons.
