Brown to press Fifa to host World Cup

The chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the sports minister, Richard Caborn, will today underline to Sepp Blatter, the president of world football's governing body, Fifa, their backing for England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

It will top the agenda for a meeting between Blatter and the ministers. A feasibility study commissioned by the Government has already reported that England would have an excellent chance of being hosts.

"The meeting is primarily to inform the Fifa president of what we are doing in terms of preparation for a possible bid for the 2018 World Cup," Caborn said. "We will tell Mr Blatter that if the FA do decide to bid for the World Cup they have got our full support. Gordon is also interested in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and we will be looking to explore how we can cooperate through Fifa to help them for that tournament."

The US Soccer Federation last week decided they would bid for the 2018 World Cup, while Australia may also, but Caborn said he was not worried about the competition. The World Cup usually comes to Europe every third tournament, and television companies would be in favour of it being in Europe in 2018, with 2014 being staged in South America, where the time difference is not ideal for peak audience viewing.