Fifa open to England 2018 bid
25th October, 2007
After confirming his intention to scrap rules determining the continent hosting the World Cup, Sepp Blatter says he would welcome a bid from England to hold the biggest event in the world. "We shall make the World Cup available to everybody bar the last confederation which has organised it." said Blatter. "England is the motherland of football and I'd welcome a bid for 2018, but we've already had talks with China, and Australia are always in the running."
If the new rules went ahead, no South American countries would be able to bid for the 2018 World Cup, as Brazil look set to host the tournament in 2014, after bids from Argentina and Colombia fell away.
Blatter was in Sheffield this week, talking to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and said "The last time we had the World Cup there (in England) was 1966 and by 2018 that will be practically three generations. But England will not be the only candidates. As well as China and Australia, there are the United States, Mexico and perhaps Canada. In Europe there is Russia and I will have talks with Holland and Belgium next month about whether a combined candidature is valid." The prime minister added: "While a bid is a matter for the FA, it would be a huge boost to football in our country and would also make for a great sporting decade. We will have the Olympics in 2012, potentially the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, perhaps even the rugby union World Cup in 2015 and then to be able to host the 2018 World Cup would be a marvelous completion of the best sporting decade in our history."
Sporting Bet are offering odds of 10/1 for England to win the next World Cup in 2010. At this time quotes for the 2018 World Cup are fairly limited...
