RNW

Members of the Dutch Lower House are demanding to know precisely what it will mean for the country if the Netherlands and Belgium host the football World Cup in 2018 or 2022. The two countries have put in a joint bid to organise football’s top competition.

The MPs want to be told what demands the international football’s governing body FIFA is making and how these are being dealt with. Any new legislation and regulations necessary will have to be in place by 2013.

Most MPs are broadly in favour of hosting the tournament but have been stung into action by the controversy surrounding FIFA’s draconian advertising regulations during the World Cup in South Africa.

During the Netherlands-Denmark match women involved in a marketing stunt by Dutch brewery Bavaria were arrested. They were threatened with six-month prison sentences although they were later released.

One MP explains that there is enough time to find out exactly what organising the event will mean. “We have to decide what we want and what we don’t want. The bottom line is that the Netherlands isn’t going to be governed by FIFA,” she says.