England get green light for World Cup bid

Updated 15.27 Mon Oct 29 2007

Keywords: England, World Cup, FA, Fifa

England will now be able to make a bid for the 2018 World Cup after Fifa decided to scrap the tournament's rotation system.

Members of the FA board will now decide on the next steps at a meeting on Wednesday but the Government has already made it clear that they are very keen on a bid.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said last week he favoured a change to the rotation system after only one country - Brazil - bid for 2014

Speaking at Fifa's headquarters in Zurich, Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson said: "We welcome the move from the Fifa executive committee. The FA will now consider their position and we also welcome the support we have had from the Government."

Fifa's executive committee unanimously agreed to scrap the system of rotating the World Cup between tournaments.

The only restrictions for 2018 is that countries from Africa and South America will not be able to bid as their continents are hosting the finals in 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil).

England are likely to face a number of other strong challengers, including Russia, China, Australia, USA or Mexico, and possibly a Benelux joint bid from Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said last week he favoured a change to the rotation system after only one country - Brazil - bid for 2014.