New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft joins effort to help bring World Cup to US

BOSTON — The owner of the New England Patriots and New England Revolution has joined an effort to bring the FIFA World Cup to the U.S. in 2018 or 2022.

Robert Kraft, CEO of The Kraft Group, accepted Wednesday an invitation to join the board of directors for the USA Bid Committee.

Kraft led the successful bid for Foxboro Stadium to serve as one of the nine host venues during the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

The U.S., Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Russia have formally declared their desire to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain have each submitted joint bids for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, while Qatar and South Korea have applied as candidates to play host only to the tournament in 2022.