Coe's key role in England's 2018 World Cup bid

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Lord Coe, as chairman of the FIFA ethics committee, has been given the task of drawing up the rules and regulations concerning the most competitive battle in World Cup history for the right to stage the tournament in 11 years.

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Coe: pivotal position

FIFA, who will announce Brazil on Tuesday as the uncontested winner from South America to host the 2014 World Cup, unanimously agreed at a meeting of their executive committee to end the World Cup venue rotation of confederations in 2018.

This will mean England, who will discuss when to formally announce their campaign at Wednesday's FA board meeting, will be involved in a bidding contest with Russia, China, Australia, Canada, Mexico, the U.S, Spain and the Benelux countries.

Only the Africa and South America confederations cannot bid as they will have hosted the previous two tournaments.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday: 'I am delighted that FIFA have opened the door for the World Cup to come back to England.'

FA chief executive Brian Barwick added: 'It is exactly what we were hoping for and we will now discuss a timetable for a potential bid.'

Coe's ethics committee will meet in December to begin putting down the ground rules governing both the 24-man FIFA executive committee, who will make the decision about the hosts of the 2018 World Cup in 2011, and the bidding countries.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Monday: 'The chairman and his ethics committee has to make sure that all sides adhere to the proper bid process. When there are problems in a marriage, two are always involved.'

The balancing act facing Coe was evident from FIFA committee member Chuck Blazer's opinion that there is no reason to stop him and others on the executive committee from visiting bidding cities, as is the case with their Olympic equivalents.

Blazer said: 'I like to go myself to get a proper take on whether a country is ready to host a World Cup. I am sure Coe will look into this. He will set the rules.'

Meanwhile, FIFA have also decided to amend their players' status regulations to include the Premier League rules on third party ownership, which might have a serious long-term affect on South American football where such Carlos Tevez-style ownerships are commonplace.