THE FA faces an uphill battle to bring the 2018 World Cup to England according to the main organiser of the 2010 event. Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the 2010 World Cup organising committee and the man who led South Africa’s bid to host the event, said he believed the likelihood of three European countries competing for 2018 will hurt two of them, and that without the full support of European football’s governing body, Uefa, the World Cup in England will remain a distant dream.

The host of the 2018 tournament will be chosen by the vote of Fifa’s 24-man executive committee, which includes eight from Uefa, four each from Africa and Asia, three from North/Central America, three from South America, one from Oceania and one from the Fifa president. Candidates are expected from up to five different continents but it is the enthusiasm from elsewhere in Europe, notably from Russia, that could damage England’s case, explained Jordaan. “The 2018 race is going to be very difficult,” he said. “Europe already has three candidates: Russia, the joint Netherlands-Belgium proposal and England. Assume each candidate has a vote [an Englishman, a Belgian and a Russian sit on the executive committee] so you have five votes left in Europe. Then China, if they come in, will get all four votes from Asia. If Australia come in they rely on at least one vote, and if either Mexico or the United States come in, they have the three votes from their region.

“You then have a scenario where Europe will have difficulty because around their five remaining votes there will be three candidates, while if China consolidates its four and the North/Central America candidate consolidates its three, they will be very well placed.” The procedure is that after each round of voting, the lowest-polling candidate is eliminated.

England, with its excellent stadiums, would make a strong case to earn Uefa’s endorsement, although the FA would hope Uefa’s political climate changes over the five years ahead of voting. Since Frenchman Michel Platini became president of Europe’s governing body, he has had a number of clashes with the Premier League, notably over his proposals to reform entry to the Champions League and the foreign ownership of clubs.

Platini’s powerbase owes much to Eastern Europe. A number of Uefa member states that have gained independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union voted for Platini in January’s Uefa presidential elections; the 2012 European Championships will take place in Poland and Ukraine, and a Russian World Cup candidacy would build on the rapid development of the sport there.