England have officially submitted their bid to host the 2018 World Cup which, if successful, will be 52 years after their one previous home global tournament in 1966. The question is, can England compete with the other candidates at hosting such a prestigious tournament? The answer surely is, of course they can!

Thankfully, it seems as if the FA have learnt the mistakes of their previous bid for the 2006 World Cup. Nine years ago the country came across as boasting with the slogan “Football’s coming home”, which ended in an embarrassing failure. The initial slogan for 2018 is “England United, The World Invited”, a very different tune to the previous campaign.

The one thing for sure is that the next 18 months will be a roller coaster ride of campaigning for the 24 votes available. The man they need to impress most is FIFA President Sepp Blatter who has a large influence with a majority of the voters. One mistake already made was the accidental invitation of a BNP councillor to the launch of England’s World Cup bid. With the “Kick Racism out of Football” slogan in full force throughout the game, such a slip up needs to be avoided in the future if England are to not alienate people.

Nine candidates have currently submitted bids forward to hold the 2018 World Cup. They are England, USA, Russia, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia along with joint bids from Portugal/Spain and Netherlands/Belgium. Of these, only England, Mexico and USA have hosted a World Cup on their own. In order to host the World Cup, the successful bidder must be able to provide 12 stadiums with at least 40,000 capacity and have a stadium for the final that contains at least 80,000 capacity.

This represents one of the strongest areas of England’s bid. With the Premier League being one of the world’s most dominant leagues, the stadiums match the quality of the teams. London, the capital, has a vast array of large modern grounds including the 90,000 capacity Wembley stadium and the newest Premier League ground in the over 60,000 capacity Emirates stadium. Chelsea’s own Stamford Bridge is relatively modern and would qualify as a World Cup stadium as it holds 42,055. Also, by 2018, it is fairly likely that Tottenham Hotspur will have built their new 58,000 seater stadium to rival Arsenal and the 2012 Olympic stadium may well be able to host football if inhabited by a London club as expected following the 2012 games.

Nevertheless, it England won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, it most certainly would not be a southern only event. Manchester United’s 76,000 capacity Old Trafford stadium represents the largest ground in the Premiership whilst the 47,726 capacity City of Manchester stadium was originally built for the 2002 Commonwealth games before being taken over by Manchester City. The City of Manchester stadium also has experience in hosting a large event following it’s staging of the 2008 UEFA Cup final. The North East and Merseyside can also boast some impressive stadia as St James Park with its 52,387 capacity will be the largest stadium in the Championship next season, the Stadium of Light currently qualifies and has room for even more expansion, Everton are currently looking into a new 55,000 seater stadium even though Goodison Park is over 40,000 whilst Liverpool are still in talks to move to the initial 60,000 stadium in Stanley Park. With stadiums around the country constantly developing, England will have no problem in providing a World Cup which will easily provide 12 large grounds that are widely distributed over the country.

The majority of other countries that have bidded for the 2018 World Cup would not be able to automatically provide 12 existing stadiums. The only other country that would realistically be able to challenge England on them fronts are the USA. The Americans have comprised a shortlist of 70 stadiums that are over 50,000 in capacity. In fact 24 of these grounds are 80,000 or over in capacity with 5 of them over 100,000. What may go against the USA though is the lack of football (or soccer) tradition that a large majority of these stadiums have. Many of the shortlisted arenas are used for NFL teams or University American football clubs.

The other candidates!

Australia: The Australians have launched a fairly strong and serious bid for the 2018 and the 2022 World Cup to an extent. The country plans to drive the bid to host their first ever World Cup with their 16 shortlisted stadiums and their vast at experience at hosting major sporting events such as the 2000 Olympics (including the Olympic football tournament), the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. However, Sepp Blatter has perhaps dashed their early hopes with a comment that Australia should focus more on hosting the 2022 World Cup.

Belgium/Netherlands: This joint bid is perhaps regarded as more of an outside bid than a realistic one. Although they impressed UEFA President Michel Platini who supports the idea of the World Cup back in Europe, Sepp Blatter has stated that a joint bid will be rejected if a suitable individual bid was received. Another factor against them is the lack of a current 80,000 stadium to host the final. Also, it’s worth remembering that these two countries only recently joint hosted the 2000 European Championships so another international competition may come too soon for them.

Indonesia: Indonesia recently hosted the 2007 Asian Cup but lack a wide variety of quality infrastructure to seriously compete for the 2018 World Cup. The country have already signalled their intent to predominately challenge for the 2022 World Cup. In comparison, the Indonesia national team is fairly weak and last competed at a World Cup in 1938 which may go against them as the host country automatically qualifies for the tournament. The country’s main campaign stance is that they wish to make the World Cup an environmentally friendly event. Realistically, they don’t posess any threat to the English 2018 bid.

Japan: The Japanese are bidding to become the first Asian country to host the World Cup twice. However, the likelihood of this happening seems very unlikely for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Japanese only very recently hosted the tournament along with South Korea in 2002. Secondly, Japan are relying very much on Tokyo winning the 2016 Olympics which will provide the infrastructure to host the final if they were to win the rights. This bid is extremely unlikely to worry the English.

Mexico: Mexico are bidding to become the first country to host the World Cup for the third time. The country is currently working on 13 new stadiums in preparation for a successful bid and have experience in hosting other major tournaments such as the Olympic Games, Confederations Cup and the Gold Cup. One of the main factors against Mexico is the extremely hot temperatures that are experienced in the summer months.

Portugal/Spain: After months of not knowing whether a joint bid or a sole Spanish bid would go ahead, it was eventually revealed that two of the biggest rivals in World football were launching a joint bid for the 2018 World Cup. 8 of the credited five star UEFA stadiums are located in either Spain or Portugal whilst both countries have significant experience of hosting major football tournaments. The two countries both have a large football tradition and are a major threat to the English bid.

Russia: The Russians are currently seen as the biggest threat to England’s pursuit to host the 2018 World Cup. Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin has taken a keen interest in the bid and has gone as far as “getting Russia ready” to stage the biggest event in football. The country are planned to have 5 stadiums ready by 2013 although this may go against them due to the problems their neighbours (Ukraine and Poland) have had preparing for the 2012 European Championships. Also, the sheer size of Russia may cause problems as they have 9 different time zones throughout the country. Even so, they still represent a big threat to the English.

USA: The USA would normally be seen as a major contender to host the 2018 World Cup but this time there are a few downfalls in their bid. Vice Fifa President, Jack Warner who is in charge of the CONCACAF region has stated he wants to bring the World Cup back to region but is urging the country to focus more on 2022 than 2012. The country has a vast number of stadiums they could use for the tournament and they previously set attendance records when they hosted the tournament in 1994. Nevertheless, the fact that the USA have hosted the event in recent years may be a downfall for the 2018 tournament.

Overall: There is no doubt that England are the favourites to win the 2018 World Cup. No other country bidding can boast an overall package that contains a strong domestic league, various large capacity stadiums, a huge base of football fans across the country and the experience they will have had by staging the Olympics. Even so, it would be foolish to completely write off the Russians, Australia and the Spain/Portugal bid as they all clearly have their merits. Both Mexico and USA shouldn’t be written off completely although they are both more suited to hosting the 2022 tournament.