SEPP'S 2022 GIFT TO AUSTRALIA

Australia's soccer administrators are in an embarrassing flap over Sepp Blatter's latest redesigning of world football protocol.

The FIFA boss took Australia by surprise earlier this week when he declared that the race for the right to stage the 2018 World Cup was likely to become a closed shop affair. Closed shop as far as non-European countries are concerned, that is.

These are the words that sent shockwaves through Football Federation Australia.

"From what I've discussed with the president of UEFA, Michel Platini, in the last few days in Moscow is that only a European candidate will be evaluated for the 2018 World Cup," Blatter said.

"There is a movement at the moment among the various candidates that in the end it would be a good solution ... if the candidates for 2018 would only be those from Europe.

"It's not been finally decided but it's the idea, also to make the work of FIFA easier and especially that of the executive committee."

Yes, we're sure it seems like a good solution... for European bidders. And, as Blatter pointed out, it would make the work of FIFA easier. Well, we're pleased about that, but the pleasure would have been far greater had this been preordained when bids were invited in the first place.

However, let's pause for a moment and take a big, deep breath. While relocating the goalposts in flight is an unsportsmanlike manoeuvre, the new rules may in fact be beneficial to Australia in the long term.

For starters, let's look at the bidding nations for 2018. Australia, Belgium/Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Portugal/Spain, Russia, United States. For 2022, it's the same again plus Qatar and South Korea.

The World Cup has been staged 18 times since 1930, and on 9 occasions it's been hosted in Europe. That's a 50 percent strike rate. This year it's in South Africa and in 2014 it will be in Brazil. That will be the first time consecutive World Cups have been contested outside of Europe and, with Korea and Japan joint hosting in 2002, that makes it three out of four away from the sport's biggest region.

Naturally, with or without a proclamation from Sepp Blatter, the 2018 host country would be in Europe, either Russia, England, Portugal/Spain or Belgium/Netherlands.

That would then clear the way for a non-European Cup of 2022 where Australia's candidature would be assessed against Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the United States, Qatar and South Korea. And quite frankly, despite the huge disadvantage of the Antipodean time zone, there's not too much to frighten Australia in that lot.

For starters, Japan and South Korea hosted in 2002. The US hosted in 1994 and Mexico has hosted twice before, in 1970 and 1986. No country has been awarded the honour of hosting the world's biggest event three times.

So, on that basis, it would seem Australia's biggest rivals would be Indonesia and oil-rich Qatar.

Australia enjoys a healthy reputation for staging major international events such as the 2000 Olympics, the rugby World Cup, Melbourne's Formula One Grand Prix and the Australian Open tennis. Soccer remains a sport in its infancy but, with successive qualifications to the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, FIFA member nations are aware Australia and its new presence in Asia has much to offer the development of the code.

In fact, there's a strong case to be mounted that Australia, without the might of the European threat, would emerge from a rank outsider to outright favourite for 2022 should Sepp Blatter's new decree be pushed through.

So far from taking umbrage at Blatter and his FIFA executive, Australia should quietly hope the goalposts are shifted, providing a clear passage directly to the Cup finals in 12 years' time.