English FA confirms 2018 World Cup bid; rival to U.S.

By Martyn Ziegler Special to PA SportsTicker

LONDON, England (Ticker) - England’s Football Association has announced that it will bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

The decision, announced after an FA board meeting in London on Wednesday, will instantly install England as one of the favorites to get the tournament, which is also being sought by the United States.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, UEFA president Michel Platini and Germany’s FIFA executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer have all already voiced support for the idea of an English bid, support which persuaded the FA to act now rather than wait any longer to announce a bid.

England’s path to bid was cleared on Monday when FIFA announced the end of its policy of rotating the World Cup between continents. The 2018 tournament had been due to be hosted by the CONCACAF region of Central and Northern America.

“I’m delighted to announce our intention to bid to host the World Cup in 2018,” FA chairman Geoff Thompson said. “This follows FIFA’s announcement on Monday that the previous rotation policy will be discontinued, and the positive comments made by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

“The tremendous support from Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his government has also been a key consideration in today’s decision.”

England has hosted the World Cup once previously, in 1966, when it won the tournament for the only time in its history.

England bid for the 2006 tournament, but was hamstrung from the start by the fact it had broken an unwritten agreement with eventual hosts Germany not to throw its hat in the ring.

“This is completely different to 2006 - this time we have key support in Europe and we have strong government support too,” one FA board member told PA SportsTicker.

“Since the last bid we have made huge inroads in helping develop football internationally.”

On Tuesday, US Soccer president Sunil Gulati vowed to press ahead with the US bid despite the increased competition.

“While we think it would have been more appropriate to finish rotation before ending it, we fully expected FIFA’s decision to open up the bidding process to multiple confederations,” Gulati said.

“FIFA’s decision does not change our own commitment to try and bring the World Cup back to the United States. I believe that a U.S. bid will be very competitive.”

Japan and Australia have already signalled their intention to bid for the 2018 tournament, and bids are also expected from China, Russia, a joint Netherlands/Belgium bid, and Mexico.

FIFA’s 24-man executive committee will decide on the hosts in 2011 and bids will have to be officially submitted at least two years beforehand.

On Tuesday, Brazil was confirmed by FIFA as host nation for the 2014 World Cup. It had been the only bidder under the old rotation policy.