BRISBANE, Australia, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Australia are likely to bid to host the 2018 World Cup following FIFA’s decision to scrap its rotation policy, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) chief executive Ben Buckley said Australia was ‘very serious’ about bidding for the 2018 World Cup now that it was open to countries outside of North America.

‘We flagged our intention to bid for the World Cup at the earliest possible opportunity and we are delighted that the FIFA executive committee has decided to abandon the rotation policy,’ Buckley said.

‘That will give us the opportunity to bid for and hopefully be successful in securing the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

‘So whilst we will be competing with European-based nations and nations from all over the world, we think this will be a better system and a better opportunity for us.’
Buckley said the FFA had undertaken preliminary work looking at potential stadiums and the financial feasibility of hosting the World Cup. FIFA’s executive committee voted unanimously on Monday to ditch its policy of rotating the World Cup between the six continental confederations.

Japan are also set to launch their bid to the host the 2018 World Cup after FIFA ended their rotation policy, despite jointly hosting the event only five years ago.

Following the decision by the world governing body’s executive committee, Japanese Football Association (JFA) president Saburo Kawabuchi has revealed discussions would be held over the ‘possibility’ of launching a solo bid.

Japan jointly hosted the 2002 event with South Korea, but under JFA proposals released in 2005, they are seeking to host the World Cup by 2050 and win the tournament under long-term plans titled ‘JFA 2005 Declarations’.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said a final decision on the hosting of the 2018 event would likely be taken in 2011.