Australia has now joined the pool of countries that are racing to host the World Cup in either 2019 or 2022.

Last Monday, Australia submitted their bid before the deadline set by FIFA, the world’s football regulating body. All candidates staked their claims for both tournaments.

If successful, it’d be the first time that Australia will host the World Cup and speculators say 2022 is the country’s best chance.

The next two tournaments will be hosted by South Africa (2010) and Brazil (2014), which indicate that the northern hemisphere will be the next setting of the 2018 World Cup.

“Australia is part of the fastest growing region in world football and I think that is very important to FIFA,” commented Bonita Mersiades, FFA spokesperson. “It's very important to us and it's very important to the Asian Football Federation. Whether that is an advantage or a disadvantage, it is too soon to say one way or the other. But I think the great thing about opening it up to any country and going beyond the rotation system is that it gives a number of countries the opportunity to put their hands up.”

The 2018 host race includes England, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia, Portugal, Spain, Qatar, the United States, and Russia. 

The host for 2018 will be announced by FIFA on December 2010.