FIFA has confirmed that no fewer than eleven official bids have been made to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. The applicants range from four different continents – as the race for 2018 begins.
FIFA has received applicants from England, Australia, USA, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia and a joint bid involving Holland-Belgium and Portugal-Spain. Sepp Blatter has previously stated that he would prefer the tournament to be hosted in a single country rather than a joint bid – however Michel Platini has recently approved the joint bid from Spain and Portugal - stating that they ‘could be one of the favourites’.
Qatar and South Korea have applied to host just the 2022 showpiece and have chosen not to apply for the 2018 finals. Blatter was quoted as saying “We are very pleased about the fantastic level of interest in our flagship competition, with all initial bidders confirming their candidature. The diversity and quality of the contenders will make this a very interesting selection process.”
All applicants will have until 11th December to submit their bid agreements to FIFA’s twenty four man executive committee who will decide which nation will host each tournament in December 2010. Next year’s World Cup is scheduled to take place in South Africa, with the 2014 finals are due to be in Brazil.
