By Mitch Phillips LONDON, Oct 29 - Belgium and the Netherlands
confirmed they would formally bid to host the 2018 World Cup
following FIFA's decision to drop its rotation policy on Monday,
while English officials are likely to follow suit. The British government voiced support for an England bid and
the Football Association will discuss a "potential bid" later
this week. Italian officials, however, said they had no plans to get
involved. FIFA's decision opened the way for countries outside Africa
and South America to bid to host the 2018 tournament and Belgium
and the Netherlands, who co-hosted the 2000 European
championship, were the first to positively respond. Luxembourg would also be part of the "Benelux" bid, but the
country's involvement would be restricted to hosting a FIFA
congress rather than any matches, and, unlike the co-hosts, they
would not be given automatic qualification for the tournament. "We welcome the decision of the FIFA executive committee; we
will now be launching a formal bid to stage the 2018 event in
Benelux, with matches in Holland and Belgium," Alain Courtois,
director of the Benelux bid, told Reuters. "We have support of our governments and we will meet FIFA
President Sepp Blatter on Nov. 14 to discuss our next steps,"
added Courtois, who said his group had been waiting for the
rotation rule to be dropped before making their bid official. British Prime Minister Gordan Brown said the FA would have
the full weight of Government support if they decided to bid. "I am delighted that FIFA have opened the door for the World
Cup to come back to England," Brown said in a statement. "By
2018, it will be 52 years since England hosted the World Cup.
The nation which gave football to the world deserves to have the
greatest tournament back on these shores. "With the Olympics in 2012, possibly the Commonwealth Games
in 2014, the rugby World Cup in 2015 and the cricket World Cup
in 2019, a Football World Cup in 2018 would crown what I believe
can be the greatest decade ever for British sport." FA Chairman Brian Barwick said: "It is exactly what we were
hoping for and we will now discuss a timetable for a potential
bid. "I have always said that when the World Cup is next played
in Europe, there is a very strong argument for holding it in
England." The FA's board will discuss the bid on Wednesday. World champions Italy, who hosted the World Cup in 1990,
missed out on Euro 2012 to Ukraine and Poland partly because of
hooligan problems in and around their stadiums. Italian authorities are concentrating on clamping down on
soccer violence rather than thinking about a 2018 bid at this
stage. "At the moment there are no plans to bid," an Italian Soccer
Federation spokesman said. Europe last hosted the tournament in Germany last year.
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