Beckham - Hard work ahead

David Beckham has admitted England have a lot of hard work ahead if they are going to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

The Three Lions midfielder has emerged as key figure in the previously troubled 2018 campaign and is to hold top level talks with Fifa president Sepp Blatter and vice-president Jack Warner before further meetings with the executive committee.

Bid ambassador Beckham was visiting a football development project in Cape Town's Khayelitsha township, which is part-funded by the FA, and believes a World Cup hosted by England would further boost grass-roots football.

"There has been some negative stuff said about the bid but you can be sure people are working hard to get this for the country," he said.

Hard work

"We can win the campaign with hard work. Nothing in life is easy, you have to work for special things to be given to you.

"England is one of the few countries with its stadia and its infrastructure that could host a World Cup almost immediately, next week. The diversity of cultures around our country is a big thing as well.

"There are not many countries where you can have Brazil and Portugal and so on coming to our country and for there to be lots of their fans already there. That's a special thing for us.

"We have one of the biggest leagues in the world but you can't get over-confident that just because we have that we will automatically be given the World Cup. It takes more than that to win a World Cup (bid). The positives are there but there is still a lot of hard work to be done.

"Football is in our culture, in our DNA, it's in us from the moment we are brought into this world, from when we are born and that's something we will always have.

"We also want to create a legacy as grass-roots football is so important for everybody and what's going on here [in the township] is one of things and something we should be proud of."

Special

Beckham, who helped Britain's successful 2012 Olympics bid, is well aware that his global impact is essential to the FA's hopes, and the 34-year-old acknowledged his responsibilities.

He added: "Of course I understand how important my role is and the reasons why I am standing here. The reason I joined the bid was to try and help and I'm very honoured and touched to be involved in this bid. I'm well aware of how important it is for my country.

"My experience of being involved in the Olympic campaign was something that I really enjoyed being part of that was very special but that was not my sport.

"But now it's a chance to help my sport and being involved in the World Cup which for me is the biggest event in the world. To be asked to be an ambassador and do as much for my country as I can is very special so hopefully I can play an important role."