What do Prince William and me (and probably you) have in common?

Seven years ago next week I was in Switzerland with Prince William, David Beckham and our then Prime Minister, David Cameron, bidding on behalf of England to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018. We clearly didn’t win, because the world’s biggest football tournament will take place in Russia next year instead. What happened there was one of the most disappointing moments of my career, and yet one of the most important.

I was responsible for the global legacy plans for how we would use the tournam...