20 Jan 2009Portugal and Spain to bid for 2018 World Cup

Football Leagues/ Association and Governance

Spain and Portugal have officially agreed to launch a joint bid to rival England's attempts to host the 2018 World Cup, it has been confirmed.

Spanish federation president Angel Maria Villar and Portuguese counterpart Gilberto Madail travelled to Lisbon yesterday (January 19th) to put pen to paper on the partnership.

Madail said: "This is an important day, the day we decide to go ahead and present a bid to Fifa. We will create a joint commission to assess all Fifa conditions.''

They must now register their interest with football's world governing body by February 2nd in order to be in the running for the showpiece tournament.

In addition to the Three Lions, a number of other countries have revealed that they will formulate bids, such as Australia, Qatar, the US, Russia, and Belgium and the Netherlands (joint bid).

It is expected that the Spain-Portugal bid will receive strong backing from the three South American representatives on Fifa's 24-man executive committee, which will announce its decision in December 2010.

Spain hosted the European Championships in 1954 and the World Cup in 1982, while Portugal were chosen ahead of Spain to host the 2004 European Championships.

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