England will fire its first major shot on Monday in what looms as a long battle with Australia to host the 2018 soccer World Cup.

The UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer (treasurer) and Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown will launch a feasibility report that is expected to give the green light to a formal bid by the Football Association.

England's preparations are based on the premise that the World Cup will return to Europe in 2018 after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 World Cup in South America, most likely Brazil.

However FIFA may opt to continue a genuine rotation policy that would see the 2018 event staged in Asia, with Australia - now it has joined the Asian confederation - a prime candidate and one that would have appeal to those seeking to spread the gospel of the game beyond its European heartland.

Canada is thought to be another contender for the same reasons, with North America hosting the World Cup only once, in the USA in 1994.

Brown said England's attempt to host the World Cup just six years after the 2012 Olympics was possible.

"I just see this as one of the great sporting decades in this country's history," Mr Brown said.

"It reinforces the image of England around the world, but also the sense that we are taking ourselves seriously as a sporting nation.

"Other countries will see England as the obvious place."

The final vote on who hosts 2018 will happen in 2012.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP