The 2026 World Cup hosts will be decided in May 2020, FIFA said yesterday, as it announced the timetable for the bidding process that was postponed in June last year in the midst of the corruption scandal which engulfed the soccer body.

FIFA said in a statement that bidding nations would have to meet requirements on human rights, sustainable event management and environmental protection. Bidders who did not meet “technical requirements” would be excluded.

FIFA said they would make a decision by October on the number of teams taking part in the finals, the format and which continents would be eligible to host the competition.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to increase the number of participants from 32 to 40, while the rules ban the same continent from hosting two successive tournaments.

This means, for example, that China could not host the 2026 finals because Qatar will be the venue for 2022.

A preliminary phase, known as the “consultation process” will begin immediately and run until May 2017.

Countries will then have until December 2018 to formally submit their bids which would then be evaluated by February 2020, culminating in a decision three months later.

Under revised statutes, the winners will be voted on by the 209 members of FIFA at their annual Congress, rather than the Council.