London based club Tottenham Hotspur are convinced that their prospective new 56,000 capacity stadium will be chosen ahead of the 2012 Olympic Stadium in London if England win the rights to the 2018 World Cup.

Wembley and the Emirates Stadium are the two London stadiums that are most likely to be chosen in the final 12 shortlist after being selected as the two venues to be presented to FIFA as London’s representatives. However, the FA also stated that a third London venue would be put forward if they won the bid. This is believed to be between the new Spurs stadium and the 2012 Olympic arena.

A high ranking Spurs source said: “Once the stadium is built, it will be impossible for FIFA to leave us out. It will the best football stadium in Europe without a doubt. Both from a technical and environment point of  view. We knew there was a possibility that we would not be chosen outright because we have not yet gone through planning and then we have the funding issues. But our detailed plans will blow FIFA away. We have no problem with the timing.”

One of the major issues for the Olympic stadium is whether or not it will be able to retain it’s 80,000 capacity after the conclusion of the Olympics in 2012. Tottenham also believe that they can persuade FIFA to choose a football specific venue over a stadium with a running track.

The source added: “What are they going to do with it between 2012 and 2018? That’s the issue. You can’t operate an 80,000 stadium for half a decade. It’s not viable. Besides it will have a running track round the outside. The expectation is that it’s very unlikely FIFA would choose a running track-type stadium over a football-specific, state of the art stadium.”