England’s plans to put in a bid to host the 2018 World Cup Finals have been given a major boost after the British Government announced that it has launched a feasibility study into staging the tournament.

The Government launched a study to test whether England would be capable of hosting the Cup, after it was announced earlier this week that it had held preliminary talks with the England Football Association (FA).

In giving details of the feasibility study, Gordon Brown, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, said yesterday: “We’ll support the Football Association when it makes its application, and if it makes the application.” The bids do not have to be submitted until 2010, with the final vote to be made in 2012.

Brown said he felt the whole country would support the bid, and that the government had learned a lot from the hugely successful campaign to stage the 2012 Olympic Games.

"People feel this is the right time for Britain," Brown told reporters, while visiting a soccer training project in East London, the site of the 2012 Olympics.

He added: "I believe that the success ... in winning the Olympics puts us in very good standing for a bid for the football World Cup."

The English Football Association’s Chief Executive Brian Barwick is pleased with the Governments backing, "Any successful World Cup bid needs government support, as we saw with the 2012 Olympic success," he said in a statement. "If the 2018 World Cup comes to Europe we will be giving very serious consideration to making a bid."

Sport England have also given their full support to the Government’s study into the feasibility of holding the FIFA World Cup in 2018. Roger Draper, Chief Executive of Sport England said:

“The World Cup is one of the most prestigious International sporting events, and we are delighted that the Government has launched this study”…“Whilst we work with London 2012 to ensure that the 2012 Olympic Games leaves a lasting legacy, hosting a World Cup in 2018 could only further strengthen public interest and participation in sport.”

England had initially put a bid together for the 2006 World Cup but its chances of success were hurt by political infighting with the European football governing body UEFA, who gave their backing to Germany.

Sir Bert Millichip, the Chairman of the English FA at the time, had agreed that Germany would not be opposed for the 2006 World Cup as long as England received the 1996 European Championship finals.

With a further indication of England’s possible success, David Will, one of FIFA’s vice-president’s, said that he expected the 32-nation tournament would return to Europe that year because of the plan to rotate the competition round the different football confederations. “At the time of the 2006 bid, from the beginning there were problems over the gentleman’s agreement with Germany, meaning that England had no support from the rest of Europe,” he said.

“Since then the FA has done an enormous amount of work with extensive assistance programmes in Africa and the Caribbean” Will added, “Their standing on the International scene has soared.”

The Scottish lawyer, who is on the FIFA executive committee, also rated England’s chances of securing the 2018 World Cup as “extremely good”

England last staged a major tournament, the European Championship, in 1996, and last hosted the World Cup in 1966. The FA will not make any firm decision on a World Cup 2018 bid until Autumn 2006 at the earliest.

Since England staged the World Cup in 1966, Europe’s other potential hosts — Germany (twice), Italy, France and Spain — have all hosted the event. England has more than enough top-class stadiums to stage the tournament, including the new Wembley Stadium which will be completed next year.

With the 2006 finals being held in Germany, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 finals likely to be staged in Brazil, the 2018 competition represents the next available opportunity for a European country to put in a bid to host the event.

However, it is not yet certain to come to Europe, and Oceania have also declared their intentions to launch a bid. But, in a twist in the tale, the planned bid by Australia and New Zealand to host World Cup 2018 has hit problems, when FIFA confirmed that Australia had applied to join the ‘stronger’ Asia Zone of qualification for the next World Cup Finals in South Africa, and that there would be no cross-confederation bids accepted.