Australia likely to bid for 2018 World Cup

Brisbane (Australia) Oct 30: Australia are likely to bid to host the 2018 World Cup following FIFA's decision to scrap its rotation policy, a senior official said today.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) chief executive Ben Buckley said Australia was ''very serious'' about bidding for the 2018 World Cup now that it was open to countries outside of North America.

''We flagged our intention to bid for the World Cup at the earliest possible opportunity and we are delighted that the FIFA executive committee has decided to abandon the rotation policy,'' Buckley said.

''That will give us the opportunity to bid for and hopefully be successful in securing the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

''So whilst we will be competing with European-based nations and nations from all over the world, we think this will be a better system and a better opportunity for us.'' Buckley said the FFA had undertaken preliminary work looking at potential stadiums and the financial feasibility of hosting the World Cup. FIFA's executive committee voted unanimously yesterday to ditch its policy of rotating the World Cup between the six continental confederations.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said a final decision on the hosting of the 2018 event would likely be taken in 2011.

Reuters>