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One insider told me: "If there are five bidders it will be a disaster. Europe needs to agree on one candidate."

England and the and made it clear they will bid.

Other possible contenders who have not yet declared include Russia, Italy and a joint bid by Spain and Portugal. Russia has never hosted the tournament and neither has Portugal.

There is talk that if there are to be several European candidates there should be a primary competition to decide which single bid will go forward into the world round.

Franz Beckenbaeur told me on Tuesday that he would like to see such a preliminary round and for Europe to agree on one candidate. The Uefa insider told me: "If they want us to hold a primary, we shall organise one."

But such ideas will not be welcomed by Chuck Blazer, Fifa executive member from the USA who represents - Central and North America, and the Caribbean.

He made it clear to me that the Fifa decision to open up the rotation was meant to allow national associations to come up with bids, not for confederations to decide on one candidate and then present it to Fifa.

The race will not be run for another four years, but already the fascinating world of football politics has begun to operate.

As Michel Platini, president of Uefa, told me when I asked whether the candidates would be decided by the quality of the bids or the politics of football: "I have been in football administration for 20 years and it is always football politics that decides such bids. My only concern is that 2018 should come ."