LONDON: England's 2018 World Cup bid team signalled an end to its high-stakes dispute with rivals Russia Thursday, withdrawing a complaint to FIFA and saying it had accepted an apology for critical comments. England's campaign team said Thursday that Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko had given its bid an “honorable” apology. “We of course accepted this apology and appreciate the gesture,” the England bid team said in a statement. “We now wish to move on from this matter.” Alexei Sorokin, director of the Russian bid and the man whose quoted comments in a Russian newspaper sparked the row, said he was happy to see a line drawn under the issue. “I'm glad this whole thing is finally over to our mutual satisfaction and we can now proceed with our normal work,” Sorokin told Reuters. England and Russia are two of four candidates for the right to stage the 2018 World Cup, with joint-bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands the other hopefuls. Japan, South Korea, Australia, United States and Qatar are candidates for 2022. Soccer's governing body FIFA is due to elect the hosts of the two World Cup tournaments on Dec. 2 in Zurich. The row between Russia and England only added to the problems surrounding the bidding process, which has been rocked by allegations of corruption. FIFA forbids competing nations from making any comments about rival bidders.
