Sebastian Coe, the London 2012 chairman, insists the Olympic Stadium should be considered as a possible World Cup venue even though it will have a running track.

A decision will be made at the end of the year on the ten venues that will form part of England's bid to stage the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Some critics say an athletics track would make the stadium unsuitable for football but Coe, who is also a non-executive director of England's World Cup bid, does not agree.

"We seem to be about the only country in the world that seems to think it's absolutely impossible under any circumstances to play football inside a running track," he said. "That overlooks the fact that the last three Champions League finals have been played in those sorts of stadiums, not to mention the last World Cup final in Berlin where the World Athletics Championships will be in August.

"I see no reason why the Olympic Stadium should not be used and the evaluation team at the FA are working on this now and will be looking at this. If with the Olympic Stadium you have the ability to build out again, then why not use it?"

Coe's comments come a day after Baroness Ford, the head of the new 2012 legacy delivery company, said people would "scratch their heads" at the stadium being down-sized from 80,000 seats to 25,000 seats after the Games - as is the current plan - and suggested that it could be used as part of England's bid for 2018.