Southampton will not be part of England's 2018 FIFA World Cup bid

The Football Association has told the Daily Echo there is “no chance” of the England 2018 bid team allowing the city to join the race.

After Portsmouth dramatically pulled out of the running last week, it was thought Southampton might be allowed to submit a late bid to plug a vast geographic gap between London, Bristol and Plymouth without a possible venue.

The leader of Portsmouth City Council, Gerald Vernon- Jackson, said he believed the FA would be keen to hear from Southampton, now his city was no longer in the running.

However, the England bid team – currently in Cape Town for today’s draw for the group stage of the 2010 World Cup – have now dashed that possibility.

A spokesman said the deadline had long since passed, and, despite Portsmouth pulling out, there was “no chance” of Southampton being allowed in.

He added that the tendering process had been long and competitive and to let the city in now would be impossible.

The news will come as a huge blow to the council, club and fans who were eager to see some of the globe’s best footballing talent playing at St Mary’s.

The deadline for expressing an interest in the possibility of being a host city was just two days after Markus Liebherr bought Saints, back in July.

Prior to that, the very existence of the club had been in doubt, meaning it was impossible for any bid to be launched by the council.

However, the council claimed they had never been invited to submit a bid by the South East England Development Agency (Seeda), who instead opted for Milton Keynes and Portsmouth.

In September, Nicola Cortese, the executive chairman of Southampton Football Club, said he would like St Mary’s to host World Cup football.

Seeda then lobbied the FA who told the club and council that there was no chance of them being allowed in – despite the deadline for submitting finalised bids not being until late November.

An Internet campaign, headed by Saints fan David Barrett, had collected more than 2,500 members in less than a week, with a view to showing the FA the level of support for a Southampton bid.

St Mary’s Stadium is bigger than six of the venues currently on the shortlist – some of which are still very much in the planning stages. It also meets the highest requirements as laid out by European football’s governing body UEFA.

Despite that, the final ten venues will be chosen on December 16, without Southampton being on the shortlist.

World football governing body FIFA will decide if England will host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cups in December next year.