World Cup shortlist unveiled
England named as one of nine bidders for 2018 World Cup
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Wednesday, 18, Mar 2009 09:10
The shortlist of candidates to rival England for the right to host the 2018 World Cup has been revealed, with eight other bids vying for the tournament.
Despite being widely regarded as the front-runner, England face some stiff competition from other European associate members - notably Russia and two joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands.
Australia and the USA provide arguably the strongest cases from further afield to host the tournament in nine years' time, while Indonesia, Japan and Mexico are the other bidding nations named by Fifa.
"We are very pleased about the fantastic level of interest in our flagship competition, with all initial bidders confirming their candidature," said the governing body's president Sepp Blatter.
"The diversity and quality of the contenders will make this a very interesting selection process.
"This shows the importance of the World Cup as a truly universal event and the global power of this competition to help achieve positive change, in line with our claim: For the Game. For the World."
The next step in the process comes next month when Fifa will set out its guidelines for the full bid, which is to be submitted by December 11th 2009.
If England fail to land the 2018 World Cup, they have also expressed interest in bidding for the 2022 tournament - when competition would come from the same nations again (minus the winning 2018 bidder), as well as the Republic of Korea and Qatar.