England should have few problems getting a result against Estonia this Saturday and moving one step closer to qualifying for Euro 2008 – 15:00 BBC1

Sepp Blatter hinted that he wants to drop Fifa’s controversial selection policy for hosting the World Cup finals.

Under current Fifa guidelines, the tournament is scheduled to rotate between each of the world’s major footballing continents.

“I am advocating we open the market,” Blatter told BBC One’s Football Focus.

Only one South American nation – Brazil – has submitted a formal bid to stage the 2014 World Cup. Argentina and Colombia were initially in the running but withdrew, leaving Fifa with just one candidate to choose from.

And Blatter admits he wants to avoid a repeat scenario for 2018.

“We are not in a very comfortable situation in South America,” he added. “We only have one bidder.

“It is better to have three or four associations trying to get the number one competition of the world.”

Although nothing was confirmed, Oceania or Concacaf (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) would have hosted the 2018 finals. But Blatter feels that Europe should be free to challenge, paving the way for a possible bid from England.


England should have few problems getting a result against Estonia this Saturday and moving one step closer to qualifying for Euro 2008 – 15:00 BBC1