Mexico, which has twice staged the World Cup, has withdrawn bids to hold the 2018 or 2022 tournaments, a senior Mexican Football Federation (Femexfut) official said. "The decision is based on two factors, the world economic situation and the investment needs in (our own) infrastructure and (that of) third parties," Femexfut general secretary Decio de Maria said.
The withdrawal of Mexico, which staged the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, left Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Portugal, Qatar, Russia and the United States as candidates for the tournaments. South African is hosting the 2010 World Cup and Brazil the 2014 one. FIFA will vote on the host nations for 2018 and 2022 in December.