An English bid to host the 2018 football World Cup is being backed by their government. This comes after an official study into the project concluded that England is well-placed to stage the competition.
Chancellor Gordon Brown said the tournament should return to "the nation which gave football to the world".
This does not yet mean that England will bid to host the tournament as the Football Association has not yet officially announced a bid after they spent and lost millions on an unsuccessful attempt to host the 2006 World cup.
In that bid Wembley which is still not finished was supposed to have hosted the final. However FA chief executive Brian Barwick said in a statement: "Government backing is a central part of any successful World Cup bid and this study underlines this government's commitment to bringing the world's biggest sports events to these shores."
Mr Brown said: "By 2018, it will be more than 50 years since England first hosted the World Cup. With the Olympics in London in 2012, hosting the World Cup in 2018 would make the next decade the greatest in Britain's sporting history."
The chancellor and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell visited the new Wembley Stadium to launch the report of the government's feasibility study.
Ms Jowell said: "The FA will, in due course, make their decision. What Gordon Brown and I are showing today is that a World Cup bid would have unqualified government support."
The country has been weighing up a possible bid since late 2005. England would be among early favourites to clinch the 2018 tournament, having not hosted the World Cup since 1966. It would also be the natural turn of a European nation after South Africa in 2010 and, it is thought a South American location in 2014.