Lord Triesman, who is also the head of England's bid to bring the World Cup tournament back to the country for the first time since 1966, picked out the main rivals in an interview published today in The Times.

 

He said: "Not everyone has declared their hand.

 

"Spain are a serious football country if they went for it. I would like to think after several years in the southern hemisphere [2010 in South Africa, 2014 in Brazil], it would be in the north, but I have no doubt Australia will make a really serious effort.

 

"Maybe Russia, too, but I find it very hard to read whether they could do it when you look at what is happening in its economy and some of its internal issues.

 

"I am being very careful with what I say."

 

Russia are considered by many experts to be the main favourites if they bid because they have the fastest growing economy in Europe and recently signed a major sponsorship deal with Adidas, one of FIFA's biggest and most longest-serving sponsors. 

 

The belief is that the event will return to Europe in 2018 for the first since Germany staged the 2006 event but Triesman acknowledged that competition is going to be fierce.

 

He told The Times: "If it was us or Spain, I don’t know which way it would go.

 

"The aspiring bidders are not just going to lay down and as far as I can see, FIFA are not keen to see block voting in one direction."

 

Triesman promised that lessons had been learned from England's embarrassing bid to host the 2006 event when they allegedly reneged on a "Gentleman's Agreement" with Germany not to bid.

 

He said:  "Everybody has learned a lot from the 2006 campaign.

 

"Those mistakes of judgment about what deals were done and what promises had been made will not be made.

 

"We will run a very clean campaign.

 

"That is the only way to do it."

 

To read the full article visit http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/international/article5380150.ece.