Madrid to support 2018 World Cup bid

The Mayor of Madrid has said the city will put a bid for the Olympic Games on hold in order to help Spain win the bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Madrid has failed in its last two attempts to host the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, cheap losing out to London and Rio de Janeiro respectively.

And now Mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon has said the city will do everything it can to see teh joint Spain-Portugal bid succeed.

He said: “The Spanish Football Federation behaved incredibly well towards us in our Olympic candidacy. They directed their needs for matches to be played around the dates that favoured the Madrid candidacy.

“It is not a return of favour – it is for conviction that now all of us have to work together so that Spain is able to organise this World Cup and after that we can start to think about other sporting events.”