Head of the FIFA Inspection Group Harold Mayne-Nicholls (C), General Manager of bid committee Miguel Angel Lopez and Portuguese Soccer Federation General Secretary Angelo Brou shake hands at the end of a meeting with journalists about the World Cup 2018-22 bid event in Lisbon September 2, 2010. (REUTERS/Jose Manuel Ribeiro)

LISBON – FIFA ended a four-day visit to inspect Spain and Portugal’s 2018 or 2022 World Cup bid by praising the countries’ capacity to co-ordinate effectively in hosting a joint event.

“We are certain the coordination required at state level is absolutely assured if the World Cup comes to the Iberian Peninsula,” FIFA’s inspection team leader Harold Mayne-Nicholls told a news conference on Thursday.

The delegates started their tour in Madrid, visiting infrastructure facilities and Real Madrid’s training complex where they met coach Jose Mourinho, and the Bernabeu stadium, the proposed final venue.

They traveled by high-speed train to Barcelona to visit the Nou Camp stadium, before moving on to Portugal where they met government officials and went to Porto’s Dragao Stadium and Benfica’s Luz Stadium in Lisbon.

“(All these) stadiums form, without a doubt, the ideal setting for millions of soccer fans,” Mayne-Nicholls added.

The vote for who will host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments will be on Dec. 2 in Zurich.

Spain, who hosted the World Cup in 1982, and Portugal, who staged the European Championship six years ago, are competing against England, Russia, the United States, and Belgium/Netherlands.

Barcelona's coach Pep Guardiola gestures to his players during their Spanish first division soccer match against Mallorca at Onoestadi stadium in Mallorca March 27, 2010. (REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino)

MADRID – Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has been fined 15,000 euros ($20,130) by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) for accusing a referee of lying, the Spanish champions said on Tuesday.

Guardiola was sent off for insulting the officials during his side’s 2-2 La Liga draw at Almeria on March 6, but a week later he disputed what referee Carlos Clos Gomez quoted him as having said in his match report.

After an initial appeal over the decision to the RFEF had been rejected, Guardiola said: “…when someone lies you have to appeal. They (the officials) lied in the match report and put things in there that I did not say.”

Clos Gomez wrote that he had sent Guardiola to the stands in the 27th minute of the match for leaving his technical area and putting his face close to that of the assistant referee and shouting and waving his arms.

He quoted Guardiola as saying: “Your decisions are the wrong way around” and “You don’t understand anything”. Barcelona have 10 days to decide whether to appeal the decision, the club said.