Host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments will be decided at the same time, Fifa has announced. Bidding opens simultaneously next month with the decision for both World Cup hosts to be made in December 2010. Should a 2018 bid fail it now means countries can enter the 2022 vote straight after, as long as 2018's hosts are not from the same continent. England wants to stage the 2018 World Cup, but the Football Association could also now target 2022 as a back-up. Bidding for both tournaments is open to any countries, apart from those within African and South America in 2018. That is because those continents will have hosted the World Cup in 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil). Belgium and the Netherlands have formally declared a joint bid for 2018 and England's Football Association has confirmed it will bid for the event. Fifa president Sepp Blatter also said other countries to express an interest included Japan, China, Qatar, Mexico, the United States, Russia, and Australia, "even perhaps Canada". Spain could lodge a bid in conjunction with Portugal, he added, while Belgium and Holland are considering joining forces and Australia could also put forward a bid. "We have a bunch of possible, even I would say very strong candidates," he said. "And everybody knows England will be a candidate, a strong candidate." Fifa's announcement on Saturday came as world football's governing body wrapped up its end-of-year executive committee meetings in Tokyo. Source: BBC