Australia to focus on '22 bid

But Football Federation Australia president Frank Lowy said bids for both 2018 and 2022 remained on the table despite the shock refusal of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to support Lowy’s 2018 bid.

At a Johannesburg meeting, AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam backed Europe for 2018, with an Asian host to come four years later.

England are the favourites for 2018, ahead of Russia and joint bids by Holland/Belgium and Spain/Portugal.

The 2022 bid is likely to become a contest between Australia, Qatar, the US, Japan and South Korea. As the US were the hosts in 1994 and Japan/South Korea hosted jointly in 2002, Australia are well placed in the bidding process. “We are gaining ground,” Lowy told The Australian newspaper.