Australia serious about 2018 World Cup bid

Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley has reaffirmed its very serious in mounting a bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, despite FIFA’s decision to abandon it’s rotation policy.

Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley has reaffirmed its very serious in mounting a bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, despite FIFA-s decision to abandon it-s rotation policy.

With Brazil being awarded the hosting rights for the 2014 World Cup overnight, Buckley said that preparations are well underway for a bid to be made and get the world-s biggest sporting event down under.

When asked if the FFA was serious about bidding for the 2018, Buckley made it clear that Australia will be a candidate. “We are very serious,” said Buckley.

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

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

Australia though will face some stiff competition for the right to host the event, with England, a combined bid from Holland and Belgium, plus bids from China, USA and Mexico, among those countries who have expressed an interest in hosting the event.

Despite this, Buckley believes Australia has as good a chance as anybody and doesn-t believe the end of the rotation policy is a set back for Australia-s chances.

“I think it-s a definite help,” Buckley said of FIFA-s decision to scrap the rotation policy, introduced back in 2000. “There is no doubt if the rotation policy stayed in place, the opportunity to host would be at a later period.

“So while we will be competing with European nations and nations from all over the world, we think this is a better system and a better opportunity for us.”

Buckley also rejected the claim that England was a shoo-in to host the 2018 World Cup, given that it will have been 12 years since it was hosted in Europe.

"I don't think anyone is a shoo-in. The race has only just started so I don-t know how anyone can be a shoo-in, and I think Australia's credentials stack up against anyone in the world.

Preliminary work is already underway in the bid process and Buckley confirmed that the federal government and opposition are aware of the FFA intentions to launch a bid.

“We-ve done some preliminary work on looking at stadiums, financial feasibility, the resources that would be required internally to manage such a bid,” he confirmed.

“We are confident in our abilities to put together a very strong bid and think Australia would be a great place to host it.”

A decision on the 2018 World Cup will be made in 2011.