The HollandBelgium Bid (www.thebid.org), the foundation in which the Belgian and Dutch football associations are united, announced in Eindhoven the names of ambassadors and commercial partners. This takes place in the Philips Stadion, home of PSV Eindhoven, where also prime ministers Jan Peter Balkenende (NED) and Herman Van Rompuy (BEL) are declaring their support for the campaign through a video message.

Several leading Belgian and Dutch figures from sport will act as ambassadors for The HollandBelgium Bid over the next fifteen months. They support the collective candidature of Belgium and the Netherlands for hosting the World Cup in 2018.

Johan Cruyff (Captain of the famous 1974 Dutch team that introduced “Total Football” to the world), Paul van Himst (winner of the Golden Shoe of the Century in Belgium), Ruud Gullit (European Footballer of the Year 1987), Kim Gevaert (Belgian Olympic sprinter – Silver medal), Justine Henin (ranked nr 1 at WTA for 117 weeks and Olympic Gold Medalist), Pieter van den Hoogenband (Dutch Olympic Gold medalist and only swimmer who performed at the Olympic Games four times in a row), Daphne Koster (captain of the Dutch women’s national team) and Enzo Scifo (voted best young player at the World Cup in Mexico in 1986) are being introduced as supporters from Belgium and the Netherlands. Ambassador Johan Cruyff will explain in a video message why the organization of a World Cup can contribute to a better world.

They will act as ‘Official Partners’ until the hosts of the events of 2018 and 2022 are elected in December 2010 in Zurich.

Johan Cruyff, the best footballer ever produced by the Netherlands, supports the candidature. “Whenever we work together, we’re very strong,” he says about the slogan Together for Great Goals. “To collaborate on such a bid you need to have everything organized at home,” he explained. “You need everybody, really everybody, together. You can’t do anything alone, you have to work as a team.”

All candidates to host the World Cup in 2018 are required to submit a bid book to FIFA. In autumn the FIFA inspection commission will visit all of the bidding countries. Besides Belgium/the Netherlands, also Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Portugal/Spain, Russia and the USA are listed as candidates for 2018. South Africa is organizing the World Cup in 2010, while Brazil has been elected to host the 2014 World Cup.