Fifa Set To Change Voting System For 2018

The increasing number of countries expressing an interest in hosting the 2018 World Cup could force FIFA into creating an elimination round of voting for the first time.

Following FIFA’s decision to abandon its continent-by-continent rotation system of World Cup hosting, a number of candidates have come to the fore to stage the 2018 tournament.

England has already stated an intention to bid for the event but they already face competition from the USA, Canada, Mexico, Russia, China, Belgium/Holland and Spain.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the governing body may be forced to follow the model used by the Olympics by whittling the list down from up to nine possible bid countries before choosing the winner.

Such a system, Blatter added, would also allow FIFA to weed out candidates without the proper credentials.

Blatter said: ‘If there will be as many candidates as it appears there might be, then we will have to do what the IOC does and have a preliminary elimination.

‘We would follow the IOC’s method, and cut down the list of those who had given preliminary indications of interest into a shorter list of those who had given us the right guarantees.’

FIFA has previously used a single vote count to decide the host of the World Cup.

The winning bidder for 2018 will be announced before FIFA’s Congress of 2011.