World Cup bidders Australia will not be frozen out of their campaign to stage the 2018 tournament according to FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

Blatters remarks come following his controversial claims days before that Europe should be the only cotinent able to bid to host the 2018 World Cup. As a result, the non european nations such as Australia, Japan and the USA were not overly impressed with the favourable remarks towards their bidding rivals.

Blatter said: “There is a movement that 2018 should go to Europe. I said it’s a possibility only if other associations do not bid. It is not a decision for the executive committee to change that right of every association to bid or a World Cup. But the movement to go to Europe exists.”

Frank Lowy, Football Federation Australia Chairman, said: “Nothing has changed, I think there was a storm in a teacup. Blatter didn’t say what his position was, he simply said that there is a movement in Europe that wants to have the World Cup in 2018, and this is a fact. It’s blatantly clear what the European nations want, but will they get it? it will depend on who votes for them. They can’t exclude us, they can’t exclude the United States, they can’t exclude Japan, we have made a legitimate bid, you can’t change the goal posts in the middle of the game.”

As it stands, England, Russia, Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands are four European bidders for 2018. If Europe is successful, that would leave USA, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Qatar and South Korea in the running for 2022.