LONDON: England has officially withdrawn from the race to host the 2022 World Cup finals, the FA's bid team said Friday. The announcement followed the news that the United States had pulled out of the running for the 2018 tournament to concentrate on its 2022 bid, meaning it will definitely be staged in Europe. England is bidding along with Russia and the joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium. FIFA will choose the hosts for both tournaments at a vote in December. “It's pure logistics and nothing else,” England 2018 spokesman Dan Connolly said. “Once we knew that the United States were pulling out of the 2018 race we had no alternative but to do likewise for 2022.” Under FIFA rules successive World Cups cannot be staged in the same continent. “In some ways this makes the vote in December a lot less complicated because it's a straight shootout between European bids for 2018 and Asia and the US for 2022.” England is bidding to host the World Cup for the first time since 1966. Serbia to ask for replay Serbia will ask UEFA to reschedule its Euro 2012 qualifier against Italy which was abandoned after crowd trouble in Genoa Tuesday, the Serbian Football Association (FSS) said Friday. “We will meet with UEFA President Michel Platini and the soccer governing body's other top officials on Oct. 18 and ask for a replay,” FSS president Tomislav Karadzic told a news conference. “We are not optimistic about the verdict but we will try to present our case and make it clear that the FSS did everything in its power to prevent the incidents. However, no punishment should come as a surprise.” Winners to miss ceremony Barcelona and Real Madrid are refusing to let their World Cup winners, including national team captain Iker Casillas, attend a ceremony to accept a prestigious Spanish award. This year's eight Prince of Asturias prizes will be presented Oct. 22 in the northern city of Oviedo but both Barcelona and Madrid play league matches a day later. The Spanish team was awarded the Asturias prize for sport. Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said Friday he could not allow the side's eight members of the World Cup winning team go although he appreciated the prize's importance.
