17 Mar 2009

Australia puts in bid for FIFA World Cup finals

5:50 am on 17 March 2009

Football Federation Australia has formally lodged its bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 football World Cups.

FFA chairman Frank Lowy and chief executive Ben Buckley personally delivered the bid to FIFA headquarters in Switzerland ahead of today's deadline.

Indonesia and South Korea had already lodged their bids over the weekend while rivals Japan, England, Russia, Qatar, Mexico and the United States are all yet to put their papers in.

An FFA spokeswoman says the organisation's next step would be to formally launch their bid later in the year.

FIFA is expected to vote on both the 2018 and 2020 hosts in December 2010.

South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup with Brazil named as 2014 hosts.