Soccer: Can't have cake and eat it too, says Fifa

A lofty transtasman bid to host the 2018 soccer World Cup is officially over before it even began.

Football Federation Australia chief executive John O'Neill last week outlined a planned bid for the 2018 World Cup with some matches to be played in New Zealand.

But the idea was ruled out at last weekend's Fifa congress in Morocco, the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday.

Fifa made it clear that the rotation system, which would have given Asia/Pacific priority for 2018, was to be abandoned after 2014.

President Sepp Blatter also ruled out an Australia-New Zealand bid, given that Australia is about to switch confederations from Oceania to Asia.

After the costly exercise of Japan-South Korea in 2002, the FFA has been told any plans to co-host between confederations will not get past first base. "New Zealand is out of the equation," O'Neill said.

"Fifa won't even contemplate a cross-confederation bid. Now that we're in Asia, the argument is we can't have our cake and eat it too."

That leaves Australia having to mount a stand-alone bid, and while the Asian Football Confederation has encouraged it, China remains the frontrunner to host Asia's next World Cup.

China has built much of the infrastructure in preparation for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Another strong contender is believed to be England, which has arguably the best stock of modern stadiums in the world.

"Of course it's going to be tough, but even if we miss out on 2018 we'll be putting a stake in the ground for 2022," O'Neill said.

"We're not going to give up on this, not by a long shot."

- NZPA