World Cup bid on Brown's agenda

FIFA president Sepp Blatter will meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown tomorrow with a potential bid by England for the 2018 World Cup top of the agenda.

Blatter is attending the 150th anniversary celebrations of Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest football club, and will stop off in London first for talks at Downing Street.

Richard Caborn, Brown’s World Cup ambassador, said: “This will underline the Government’s commitment to supporting the Football Association on any bid they may make for 2018, should FIFA allow that to happen.”

Blatter has already confirmed he wants to scrap rotation of the World Cup between the different continents, and that would allow England to bid.

FIFA’s executive committee will meet next week in Zurich and are expected to draw a line under rotation and bring in a system where countries from the two previous host continents cannot bid.

That would leave 2018 open to a contest involving England, Russia, China, Australia, Canada and a Benelux joint bid from Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

Sheffield FC’s dinner is well-timed for backers of an England bid – Caborn is MP for Sheffield Central and vice-president of the club and Blatter is to make the keynote speech at a dinner attended by FA chairman Geoff Thompson, Barclays Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards and former England manager Sir Bobby Robson.

Italian giants Inter Milan are coming to Sheffield to mark the 150th anniversary of the first football club in the world.

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti will also be there – the Italian club have agreed to play a friendly with Sheffield FC next month to mark the milestone, when Brazilian legend Pele will also be in attendance at Bramall Lane.

Sheffield FC chairman Richard Tims hopes the attention will help secure the long-term future of the Unibond Northern league club through their unique position in football’s heritage.

Tims said: “We have two pieces of memorabilia which you cannot put a value on - an 1857 hand-written minute book containing the first laws of the game and the first printed version from 1859.

“These are the Holy Grail of football, the first record of the laws of the game and this is something the world should harness.

“I have nothing but praise for FIFA and their help so far and now they have the power to secure this club for ever.”

Sheffield FC have lived a hand-to-mouth existence for much of the last 150 years and until five years ago did not even have a ground – they now play at Dronfield in north Derbyshire.

Blatter presented Sheffield FC with FIFA’s order of merit in 2004 and he has also praised their ’Boots for Africa’ campaign which recycles used boots to be given to players in African countries.