Outspoken film director Spike Lee has thrown his support behind the United States bid to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022.
The Academy Award-nominated director has accepted an invitation to join the board of the bid committee, US Soccer said.
Lee is known as a keen sports fan who is frequently sighted at New York basketball games. Perhaps less well known Stateside is his passion for football. He s a supporter of English premiership club Arsenal and a season-ticket holder for Italian club Inter Milan.
Spike Lee owns a distinct creative spirit and unbridled passion for sport and we re privileged to be able to incorporate his voice into the development of our bid, said Sunil Gulati, the Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of US Soccer.
As a fan of soccer and a father of a youth level player, Spike will provide a unique and invaluable perspective to our board of directors.
FIFA s 24-man executive committee will decide the hosts of both the 2018 and 2022 events in December of this year.
Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Netherlands-Belgium, Russia, and Spain-Portugal have also bid to host either of the World Cups, and Qatar and South Korea bid for 2022 only.
South Africa is hosting this year s World Cup with Brazil staging the 2014 event.
Lee said football has a global unifying aspect that allows it to break down social barriers and sets it among other universal languages such as music and the visual arts.
I m honored to be part of the USA Bid Committee and its efforts to bring the FIFA World Cup back to our country as we see the second half of our soccer history develop in front of our eyes.
Lee has often referred to traditionally American sports such as baseball in his films.
He has yet to make a film about football, but after seeing a biopic on France s Zinedine Zidane, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, Lee applied the film s format of numerous cameras tracking an individual player on the football field to the basketball court for a documentary on Kobe Bryant, Kobe Doin Work. – AFP
