SYDNEY, June 21: Australia’s football boss Frank Lowy says Australia will convince the game’s global powerbrokers to bring the 2018 World Cup down under, reports said on Saturday.

Lowy’s Football Federation Australia is pressing ahead with Australia’s bid to organise the football showpiece, despite comments from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that Europe would likely host the 2018 tournament.

Lowy, a billionaire property developer, said the benefits for Australia in hosting the World Cup would be incalculable and could redefine how the country is viewed by the world.

“Let’s be clear about this: this is not a dry run,” Australia’s second-richest man told The Daily Telegraph.

“I don’t have a Plan B, and I don’t have any other expectations than that we will get the nod and win the right to host the 2018 World Cup in Australia.”

European powers England, Spain, Russia and a joint Dutch-Belgian effort are also expected to bid for 2018 as well as China, Japan, Qatar, and the United States and Mexico.

Lowy said the FIFA Congress held here last month had opened the eyes of football’s decision-makers to Australia’s potential as a World Cup host.

Despite Blatter’s sentiments, Lowy insisted that Blatter had left Australia with a positive view of a 2018 bid. “The enthusiasm in Australia was a decisive thing for him (Blatter) to see, to view the excitement involved in what’s happening to football in Australia,” he said.

“When the time comes to choose the 2018 host (in 2011), I think we will have much more of that kind of sympathy — the world has seen it’s a growing sport, the country is enthusiastic, the government support is total, and the people are embracing it.

“With full backing from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Lowy has been mobilising logistical and financial support for the bid, convinced it can have a major effect on the country,” he added.—AFP