The Bid – Secrets of the Battle to Host the World Cup
A book written by Bonita Mersiades, planned to be published March 2013, reveals the details of the lobbyism going on behind closed doors in the FIFA World Cup bidding process.
Australian writer and PR consultant Bonita Mersiades has released an extract of her upcoming book The Bid – Secrets of the Battle to Host the World Cup. In the book, Mersiades, former head of Corporate and Strategic Affairs at the Australian Football Association (FFA) and in the management for the Australian bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2018/2022, will reveal her story about the Australian bid until she was forced to leave the FFA in January 2010.
Some controversy surrounded Mersiades’ exit from the FFA and it has been hinted that her somewhat strained relation with Peter Hargitay, the man the FFA hired as a consultant to help win the bid, was contributory to her leaving the association.
The relationship between Hargitay and Mersiades seems to be an important part of the book judging from the just released extract, which describes the first meetings between the two.
The book is to be published by Transparency Books, which is investigative journalist Andrew Jenning’s publishing house. It is planned to be out for sale in March next year.
You can read the extract here.
Read more about Bonita Mersiades here