FA exploring 2018 World Cup bid

The Football Association is proceeding with caution amid rumours that it will apply to host the 2018 World Cup.

The Government wants the English game's governing body to issue a statement of their intention to bid for the event.

But the FA will consider its options at a board meeting on Wednesday after �4m was ploughed into the failed 2006 bid.

An FA spokesman told BBC Sport: "We will look at many aspects before a feasibility study on a possible bid for 2018 is commissioned."

The only time England hosted the World Cup, in 1966, they won the tournament and Fifa president Sepp Blatter has already said that its return is long overdue.

And Fifa's decision last week to end its policy of staging the tournament on different continents in rotation has paved the way for an England bid.

However, any bid is likely to face stiff opposition from the likes of China, Australia, the United States, Mexico and Canada.

British prime minister Gordon Brown has already thrown the Government's weight behind a bid, should the FA decide to proceed.

Source: BBC Sport