| By Bill Wilson Business reporter, BBC News |
Successfully bringing the 2018 Fifa World Cup to England would create a "golden decade" for sport and provide a massive boost to the national economy, says the man charged with securing the event.
Former Sports Minister Richard Caborn is now charged with bringing the World Cup to England, should Fifa decide that Europe will host the tournament 11 years from now.
Huge benefits
"There will be huge economic benefits if we get the 2018 World Cup, particularly as sport is such a massive business now," the central Sheffield MP told the BBC website.
"You can look at the investment that will go into work around sporting facilities, and other sectors that would strongly benefit would include the tourism, transport and communications sectors.
We are all making sure we are in a position to move very quickly 
"The World Cup is also very different from the Olympics as it would go round England, with games being played in all of the regions, such as in the North West and North East.
"So it is fair to say that the regions would benefit economically too, not just London and the South East."
A report cited by the European Union estimates that sport in Europe generated more than 400 bn euros ($550bn; £271bn) in 2004, accounting for 3.7% of the EU economy and providing work for 15 million people.
And the German economy was given a boost when it hosted the 2006 World Cup, with thousands of fans spending money on hotels, transport, food and drink, and consumer goods.
Shoestring budget
Unlike when he was a minister, with an army of civil servants to help him, Mr Caborn is working pretty much on his own at present.
"At the moment we have got a couple of people working for me in Whitehall, and that is it.
"There is no real budget to speak of, as we do not know whether the event will held in Europe and are waiting on Fifa's decision."
Fifa has not made a decision yet as to whether the 2018 World Cup will be held in Europe, as it debates how to implement its policy of rotating the tournament around the continents.
"Fifa will determine which continent the 2018 World Cup will go to in November," he said.
"But if it comes into Europe then we will work very closely with the Football Association (FA), as we did with the London mayor's office on 2012, and set up a company to handle our bid.
"Fifa will then call for expressions of interest, open a candidate file, and make a decision," the Sheffield United supporter said.
'Confidence'
In the meantime he is making sure the Football Association is ready to act, should the Fifa decision be favourable.
"I met FA chairman Geoff Thompson last week. We are all making sure we are in a position to move very quickly when any announcement is made.
The commercialisation of sport, especially football, has moved at a pace that no one could have envisaged
"If it comes to England then we would have a long lead-in, pretty much similar to what we had with the Olympics.
"This could be a golden decade for sport in the UK, and with all the spin-off benefits to the economy that would bring too."
He also said that lessons learned during the 2012 Olympics would be a great help to staging a World Cup in 2018.
"And the confidence that hosting the Olympics has brought would be repeated if we secured the World Cup," the Sheffield United supporter added.
'In Fifa's hands'
Mr Caborn hopes to speak to Fifa boss Sepp Blatter in Sheffield this autumn before the world governing body makes its decision on which continent will stage the 2018 competition.
South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup, while Brazil look set to win the rights to stage the 2014 event, with a final decision expected by the end of the year.
The event was last held in Europe in 2006 when Germany hosted the World Cup.
England won the World Cup as hosts in 1966.
In February, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the tournament should return to "the nation which gave football to the world".
Any FA bid would have to be submitted in 2010 before a decision late the following year.
Earlier this year Mr Blatter told a gathering of football industry leaders that England was the only country with the infrastructure to host a World Cup at short notice.
"We are very much in Fifa's hands at the moment, but I hope to put the case for holding the World Cup in Europe, and of course England, to them" says Mr Caborn.
'Globalised industry'
Mr Caborn was talking to the BBC at a World Sports Law Report seminar on the issue of sport governance, to discuss the extent to which outside bodies - such as the European Union - can legislate in sporting matters.
"Sport has to show it can respond to the changing world, and say 'we are in the real commercial world', as it is now a globalised industry.
"The commercialisation of sport, especially football, has moved at a pace that no one could have envisaged.
"We have got to have the management to deal with that. Governments can incentive sports to be as run as well as they can be," the former sports minister said.
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