England To Bid For Both 2018 And 2022 World Cups

The Football Association has confirmed that England will table a bid to host the 2022 World Cup should its application to stage the 2018 tournament fail.

The FA made official bids for both tournaments this week and will be in the race for 2022 as long as the 2018 hosts are not European.

World football governing body FIFA will choose the hosts for 2018 and 2022 tournaments simultaneously in December 2010.

Countries have been asked to declare their intention to bid for just one of the two tournaments or to prepare presentations to host either.

The Netherlands and Belgium have already made a joint bid, while Australia has submitted its application.

Further bids are also expected from the United States, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Qatar and a joint bid from Spain and Portugal.

The next stage will be to present FIFA with details of stadiums, transport and hotels needed to stage the event.

South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup and the 2014 event will be in Brazil.