2018 England

BBC Sport are reporting that FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said: “I am advocating we open the market”, Blatter was quoted talking about the current system where the tournament rotates between the major footballing continents of the World. With only one bid in place for 2014 as the process is limited to South America, Blatter believes it would be better to have three or four associations bidding for football’s show piece event.

Argentina and Colombia were initially in the running for 2014, but have since pulled out which just leaves Brazil and now competition for the South American finals. Talking about this Blatter said, “We are not in a very comfortable situation in South America…We only have one bidder”.

All this is great news for an English 2018 Bid as under the rotation system Europe would not have been able to apply, it now seems that there will be competition from Europe, Oceania, Concacaf & Asia for 2018.

Radio Programme on England’s 2018 Bid Potential

A special 5live Sport programme about England’s potential 2018 World Cup bid will be aired on BBC5Live on Thursday the 18th October at 2030 BST.