The Chancellor of the Exchequer, favourite to be the country's next prime minister by the end of the year, said that because London will host the 2012 Olympics, there is an opportunity to make the next decade the greatest in Britain's sporting history.

In a 42-page feasibility study also published on Monday, his department named England as the "pre-eminent European candidate" to host the event.

"Everything is in place and we now have to go out and sell it and show that the enthusiasm of the young people is such that, if we win, this will be the greatest sporting decade for our country," Brown, speaking Monday at the new Wembley Stadium - the centrepiece of any England bid - said.

"We (would) have the Olympics in 2012, the World Cup in 2018 and I think we would be the greatest sporting nation in the world because so many young people will want to be sports men and women of the future.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who was accompanying Brown, added: "If the Football Association decides to bid the government will back them all the way."

Bids to host the 2018 World Cup do not have to be submitted until 2010, and FIFA, football's global governing body, will make a decision in the (northern) autumn of 2011.

Brian Barwick, the FA chief executive, said in a statement earlier Monday: "Government backing is a central part of any successful World Cup bid and this study underlines this government's commitment to bringing the world's biggest sports events to these shores."

He added: "FIFA have not yet announced which continent will be awarded the 2018 World Cup but if it does come to Europe, then the FA will give very serious consideration to a bid."

England lost out to Germany in the race to host last year's World Cup finals because there was a widespread belief among many European football associations that the FA were going back on a 'gentleman's agreement' made by former chairman Bert Millichip with German officials.

This saw England back Germany's 2006 bid in return for German support of England's hosting of the 1996 European Championships.

But last month German football great Franz Beckenbauer, president of the Germany 2006 organising committee and a member of FIFA's executive committee, said England was "the only country with an obvious chance" of hosting the 2018 World Cup.

The finance ministry's study says England already has much of the necessary stadium infrastructure to host the tournament, compared to Germany, which had to build three brand-new stadiums in the run-up to last year's event.

Six stadiums in England already meet all of FIFA's requirements in terms of seating, capacity and pitch size, while five others meet all the requirements except pitch size, the report said.

South Africa will host the next World Cup in 2010, and the 2014 tournament is due to be hosted in South America, with 2018 seemingly the next opportunity for a European country to stage the event.

Brown's political opponents in Brtain have said the Scot's support for an England bid is motivated primarily by his desire to court popularity with English voters.

Hugh Robertson, the spokesman on sport for Britain's main opposition Conservative Party, said of Brown's Wembley visit: "Given that no decision on the 2018 World Cup is due until 2011 and that this should have been done on a cross-party basis, this can only be seen as a very silly publicity stunt."

The only time England have previously staged the tournament, in 1966, was also the only occasion they have won the World Cup, a team captained by the late Bobby Moore defeating the then West Germany 4-2 after extra-time in a Wembley final.