Sport Industry Group

2018 World Cup set to go to Europe- 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has confirmed that a deal is being discussed whereby only European nations would bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Russia and England have applied separately to stage the 2018 and/or the 2022 World Cup while Spain and Portugal and Netherlands and Belgium have made joint bids for one or both.

Australia, Japan and United States have also bid for the 2018 and/or 2022 edition and South Korea, Indonesia and Qatar have all applied to host only the 2022 version.

Blatter said he had talked over the deal proposal with Michel Platini, president of European soccer's governing body UEFA.

Said Blatter: ‘There is a movement at the moment among the various candidates that in the end it would be a good solution ... if the candidates for 2018 would only be those from Europe.

‘It's not been finally decided but it's the idea, also to make the work of FIFA easier and especially that of the executive committee. It would also possibly make the work of the different organisations applying for the World Cup easier.’

FIFA need bid documentation by the end of May and will study them in June and send out groups of specialists to visit candidate nations and assess their ability to stage the event successfully.

FIFA will announce which nations will host both tournaments in Zurich in December.