Candidates confirmed

Fifa have confirmed which countries have made a bid to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. All 11 candidates had already stated their intention to stage the game's showpiece event with the announcement confirmation that Fifa had received their bid registration forms. Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Portugal, and the USA have all applied to stage the event in either 2018 or 2022 with South Korea and Qatar staking a claim to host it in 2022 only. "We are very pleased about the fantastic level of interest in our flagship competition, with all initial bidders confirming their candidature," said Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

"The diversity and quality of the contenders will make this a very interesting selection process. This shows the importance of the World Cup as a truly universal event and the global power of this competition to help achieve positive change, in line with our claim: For the Game. For the World." * With agencies