Wednesday, July 25, 2007
2018 World Cup bid for England ?
An England bid to host the 2018 World Cup may be launched early next year if, as expected, Fifa change their rules to allow European bidders.
World football's governing body is poised to abandon the concept of 'rotation' which many feared could torpedo England's hopes of staging football's showpiece tournament for the first time in more than half a century.
Instead, new rules paving the way for 2018 bids by countries from at least three different continents, including Europe, could be approved as soon as October.
A senior Fifa figure is expected to propose a new formula under which any country be allowed to bid except those situated in the last two continents to stage the competition. With Africa and South America set to host the 2010 and 2014 events, this would clear European countries to bid.
World football's governing body is poised to abandon the concept of 'rotation' which many feared could torpedo England's hopes of staging football's showpiece tournament for the first time in more than half a century.
Instead, new rules paving the way for 2018 bids by countries from at least three different continents, including Europe, could be approved as soon as October.
A senior Fifa figure is expected to propose a new formula under which any country be allowed to bid except those situated in the last two continents to stage the competition. With Africa and South America set to host the 2010 and 2014 events, this would clear European countries to bid.
