January 15, 2009: Fifa asks for bids to be submitted for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Within a month, England becomes the first nation to express interest in hosting the finals, with 2018 identified as the primary target
March 16: The bidding nations are confirmed. Australia, England, Russia, the United States, Japan, Indonesia, plus joint bids from Spain and Portugal and Belgium and the Netherlands are in. South Korea and Qatar bid only for 2022
May 18: FA launches its bid at Wembley, with David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Gordon Brown. The same month, England’s 2018 bid team is “confident” Government will provide a £5 million grant to help to finance the £15 million campaign
July 9: Sixteen venues — Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Gateshead, Sunderland, Bristol, Nottingham, Derby, Hull, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Portsmouth, London and Sheffield — enter bids to be hosts
October 7: Jack Warner, a Fifa vice-president, attacks England bid as “lightweight”. The same month the bid team was forced to defend sending £230 Mulberry handbags as gifts to the wives and partners of the Fifa executive committee
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November 5: Warner returns his wife’s handbag to the FA, saying it had become a “symbol of derision, betrayal and embarrassment”. The next day, Danny Jordaan, South Africa’s 2010 World Cup chief, warns England against “complacency”
May 14, 2010: Completed bid books, detailing stadiums, transport, infrastructure and security, as well as government backing, to be filed with Fifa. To be followed in June and July by Fifa executive visits to bid nations for inspection
December 2010: Final decision to be made by 24-man Fifa executive committee as to which host nations will be chosen for both 2018 and 2022. Exact date for decision day and the voting procedures still to be confirmed by Fifa