Dutch and Belgians prepare joint 2018 bid

The Dutch and Belgian football associations have agreed to establish a joint foundation to prepare their bid to co-host the 2018 World Cup finals.

A total of 11 cities in Belgium and Netherlands have said they could host the matches, the KNVB (Dutch Football Association) said in a statement yesterday.

The decision comes 12 months after the Dutch and Belgian governments formally told world soccer's governing body FIFA they wanted to host the tournament.

The two countries also jointly hosted Euro 2000.

Several nations, including the United States, Mexico, England, Spain, China and Australia, have also expressed interest in hosting the 2018 finals.

South Africa will host the 2010 edition while Brazil will stage the tournament in 2014.

Last month, FIFA's executive committee postponed until December a decision on whether to run the bidding process for 2018 and 2022 simultaneously.

FIFA's decision last year to end a short-lived rotation policy opened up 2018 to more bids.