“We have selected the best available players in this age group based on experience and recent playing history.”

Football Federation Australia (FFA) CEO, Ben Buckley, said that the opportunity of playing in a World Cup is a career-defining moment.

“As well as being an important and substantial tournament in its own right, the FIFA U-20 World Cup is an opportunity for players to gain valuable international experience at the highest level.

The Qantas Young Socceroos will be based in the northern Egyptian city of Port Said during the first phase of the tournament.   The Qantas Young Socceroos have been drawn to meet 2007 runners-up, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica and Brazil in the group stage.

The pair met for over an hour along with Football Federation Australia (FFA) Chairman, Frank Lowy AC, as well asFFA CEO, Ben Buckley and FIFA CEO, Jerome Valcke.

Mr Lowy said the Australian delegation received a warm welcome from the FIFA President.

"President Blatter is already well aware off Australia's strong track record in hosting major events"

"It was a very good opportunity for Mr Blatter to hear personally from the Prime Minister of the Governments support for this bid"

Australia's position as part of the Asian Football Confederation and Asia's importance for the future growth of the game were also discussed.

FFA will be required to make a final bid presentation to FIFA in December 2010.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) Chairman Frank Lowy has stated that the people of Australia are the “secret weapon” of Australia’s bid to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup ™ at the official launch held in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra today.

“We believe this bid is realistic and it’s achievable,” he told an audience of politicians, media, past, present and aspiring Socceroos and FFA partners.

Mr Lowy said that hosting the FIFA World Cup™ would be good for football, but also good for Australia.

“Hosting the World Cup would provide Australia with an unparalleled opportunity and give Australia a lasting and living legacy for generations to come.

“On the world stage, there is no event with the same level of global appeal or audience reach as the FIFA World Cup™.

Mr Lowy said that the cumulative global television audience in 2006 was 26.2 billion with the single largest audience group coming from the Asian Football Confederation, of which Australia is a member.

“Asia is on the rise economically, in terms of goods and services and in football,” he said.

“Australia is part of the Asian Football Confederation and is in the Asian time zone.”

But Mr Lowy said that Australia’s “secret weapon” is the Australian people, and Australia as a destination.

“People from all over the world want to visit our country.

“Thanks to the performance of the Qantas Socceroos at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany, as well as the many thousands of Australian fans who followed them, the rest of the world has a very positive view of us.”

“Our aim is to show FIFA and the football world that we are passionate about football and welcoming the world.”

FFA also unveiled a promotional film which showcases Australia as a destination, as well as its football and event hosting credentials, encouraging the world to ‘Come Play!’.

The film showcases the Qantas Socceroos as well as a ball travelling around Australia visiting every state and territory showcasing cities, stadia, the outback, wineries and beaches with everyday Australians in a playful mood.

“We have many milestones between today and when the decision is made and we hope that all Australians can join this bid 100 per cent.”

FFA will be required to make a final presentation to FIFA, football’s world governing body, in December 2010 prior to a decision behind made.

“I have the personal commitment of our political leaders to this bid,” said Mr Lowy.

“We have the goodwill and support of other sporting codes around the country.

“And we now invite all Australians to enlist in what we hope will be an exciting and successful campaign to bring the greatest show on earth to the world’s greatest playground.”

Aus2018 and AsianFC.com fully support Australia’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup finals in 2018 and 2022 and urge all readers to do likewise. Join the official website www.australia2018-2022.com.au and urge your friends, family and colleagues to do the same.

The launch will commence at approximately 3pm AEST in the Great Hall at Parliament House and is expected to conclude around 1 hour later.

Speaking from Doha, Football Federation Australia (FFA) CEO, Ben Buckley, said that qualifying for a second consecutive FIFA World Cup was a fantastic achievement.

"It's another first for Australian Football..." 

"Qualifying this time around, with the travel and match conditions the team has experienced, is a true measure of the progress football has made."

The Asian Football Confederation also provided the first nation to qualify. Japan earned it's spot after a 1-0 win over Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

Australia has two more matches in this round of qualification. They play Bahrain in Sydney on Wednesday June 10 and then Japan in Melbourne on Wednesday June 17.

The member associations that have sent the Bid Registration forms for both competitions are, in alphabetical order: Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Portugal, and the USA. Meanwhile, Korea Republic and Qatar have sent a Bid Registration form for the 2022 FIFA World Cup only.

The next step of the process will come in April, when FIFA will send the Bidding Agreement to these associations. The Bidding Agreement will set forth in detail the agreements and information that must be included in the Bid Book. The deadline for the associations to submit the signed Bidding Agreement to FIFA is 11 December 2009.

“While we have had a small but dedicated team working on our bid for the past 18 months compiling infrastructure audits, economic impact analysis and working with Federal and State governments on preliminary planning, we now have a timetable to meet for the Bid and a need to establish a fully operational Bid Team.

Stuart Taggart, Head of Major Events, will project manage FFA Bid operations and will have responsibility for technical aspects of the Bid including infrastructure planning, stadia and host city logistics, finance and project management. 

Bonita Mersiades, Head of Corporate and Public Affairs, will be responsible for domestic and international communications, marketing, government relations, corporate social responsibility and stakeholder and community relations.

Additional appointments will be made over the next few months bringing the bid Team to around 12-15 full time staff.

In alphabetical order, they are: Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Spain and Portugal, and the USA. 

"It is remarkable that so many high-quality contenders have expressed an initial interest in hosting our flagship competition," said FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.

"The bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be keenly contested and FIFA is eager to ensure that fair play prevails. For that reason, the FIFA Ethics Committee will be involved in the proceedings."

Official Bid Registration forms will now be sent to each of the candidate associations on February 16th

The number of potential bids now stands at 12 (10 individual and 2 joint):

Individual Bids: Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, Egypt (2022 only), Mexico, USA, Russia and England

Joint Bids: Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal

Points of note:

• CONMEBOL member associations are ineligible to host either due to FIFA's rotation policy (Brazil will host 2014)
• African member associations are ineligible for 2018 (south Africa hosting 2010)
• Joint bids are unlikely to succeed. Whilst not against FIFA guidelines, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has indicated his preference for individual bids.
• Blatter has previously stated his support for Australia to host the finals (although he has been known to change his mind in the past... remember 1 full spot in the FIFA World Cup finals for Oceania?)
• 2018 and 2022 host nations will both be announced in December 2010
• No continent can win both meaning if the 2018 finals are awarded to Europe, the 2022 must be awarded to another confederation
• The Asian Football Confederation has indicated a preference for one strong candidate rather than several bids potentially competing for votes. Currently 5 have expressed interest (Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea

Can Australia really win the bid if pitches can't be prepared to domestic standard let alone the standard required for the world's biggest sporting event?

The Hyundai A-League match between Melbourne Victory and Queensland Roar (Melbourne won 2:1) was played on a pitch that can be best described as substandard. The crowd of over 23,000 (along with a live TV audience) were bemused to see officials crawling around the pitch only hours before kickoff collecting shards of glass left behind from a New Years Eve dance party.

This is the third time this season that the ground has been sub-par. Previous matches have been played following an Andre Rieu concert and the stadium's new sponsor (Etihad) logo being burned into the surface.

Public opinion was made worse at the end of the match when stadium officials released a statement that the ground was in a fit state. Very hard to believe after the game was nearly called off due to player safety concerns!

One wonders if the stadium has lost all interest in the game with Victory's move to a new stadium on the horizon, or if this would happen for an AFL match.

Officials from other Football Associations bidding for the FIFA World Cup Finals must be sitting back with wry grins on their faces right about now.