England confirms bid for 2018 World Cup

England, the leading candidate to host the 2018 World Cup, officially confirmed its bid for the tournament on Tuesday with the delivery of a letter of intent to FIFA.

The move came a week ahead of the February 2 deadline for would-be hosts of both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments to notify world football’s governing body of their intention to enter the bidding process.

FIFA has invited expressions of interest in either or both 2018 and 2022 and will decide on the hosts of both tournaments in December of next year.

“Our intentions have obviously been well known for some time but there’s a real sense of significance and excitement in the fact that we’re now acknowledged as an official bidding nation,” said Andy Anson, the chief executive of England’s bid.

“We believe we have a very strong case to bring the tournament to England and the challenge now is to put together a compelling presentation to showcase to the world.”

England’s bid team will count on a combination of sentimental and technical considerations to help them win the tournament: the fact that the home of football has not hosted the sport’s biggest event since 1966, the huge popularity of English club football around the world and the quality of the infrastructure already in place.

Bidding countries must have 12 40,000-seat stadiums and a final venue capable of hosting 80,000 fans. The rebuilt Wembley has a capacity of 90,000 spectators.

David Beckham and Prince William, the grandson of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, have been lined up as high-profile cheerleaders for England’s bid.

The English campaign will face competition from rivals including Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, China, Japan, Mexico, Portugal and Spain, Qatar and Russia.

African countries are precluded from bidding for the 2018 tournament as the next World Cup, in 2010, will be staged in South Africa.

Latin American countries are ruled out of competition for both 2018 and 2022 as Brazil is to host the 2014 version.

The region which provides the host in 2018 will be excluded from consideration for 2022.

Countries which notify FIFA of their intent to bid will have until December 2009 to submit detailed applications in the form of a binding hosting agreement with the governing body.

Although England’s main focus has been 2018, a parallel bid for 2022 has not yet been ruled out.