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Henry Kissinger still more important to U.S. Soccer than David Beckham

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Henry Kissinger in Munich earlier this year. The former US Secretary of State will help a bid to host a future FIFA World Cup in the United States. He has as much international experience as anybody in the history of his country.

He has a globally recognized name, has won the highest awards in his field and visits with celebrities and dignitaries.

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He plays a pivotal role in U.S. soccer, and he just agreed to come back.

And his name is not David Beckham.

Former Secretary of State and Nobel Prize winner Henry A. Kissinger has agreed to help out with the United States’ bid to host another World Cup. Kissinger used to joke that he was the only national security advisor to have a fan club. His similarities to Beckham may end there — the diplomat seems to have had a real effect on the way we see soccer in the United States.

The U.S. first hosted the tournament in 1994. Kissinger chaired the advisory panel for that cup, which shattered attendance records for the sport. Stadiums averaged 96% of capacity, and more than 3.5 million fans attended — a million more than the previous record. In 1996, Kissinger was given FIFA’s Order of Merit award for his service to the sport across the world.

Kissinger has been unwavering in his efforts, even if things didn’t always work out. In the early 1980s, he served as chairman of the Board of Governors for the now-defunct North American Soccer League. He also led a U.S. bid for the games in 1986 and even spoke before a congressional subcommittee to rally support. He was accompanied in the congressional appearance, which was essentially ignored, by Pelé. Kissinger later penned a profile about soccer’s greatest legend for Time magazine’s special on the 100 most important people of the century.

He went so far as to write about his passion for the game and gave some X’s-and-O’s analysis in the pages of the L.A. Times. Always the diplomat, he also used the article to take a shot at his political enemies, pointing out that “no team from a communist country (except Hungary, in 1954) has ever reached the World Cup finals or semifinals.”

Kissinger is the sixth, and by far the most prominent, member of the current USA Bid Committee. They have until May 2010 to prepare a comprehensive presentation for FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, with the goal to host in 2018 or 2022.

The U.S. will compete with bids from Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Russia, with joint bids from Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain. The 2022 tournament will also have bids from Qatar and South Korea.

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-- Adam Rose

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