ZURICH: The United States, Egypt and South Korea have formally joined the race to host the 2018 World Cup.
FIFA received the US Soccer Federation s expression of interest ahead of the Tuesday deadline, spokesman Nicholas Maingot said.
Countries have until 1200 GMT to submit their initial bids.
Egypt is the only African country so far to seek the event.
South Korea joins its 2002 World Cup co-host Japan, Australia, Indonesia and Qatar and from the Asia-Pacific region.
Other nations that have said they would submit proposals include England, Russia and Mexico.
Joint bids by Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal have been announced, although FIFA president Sepp Blatter has expressed a preference for single-nation bids.
FIFA will decide on hosts for both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments in December 2010.
Next year s World Cup will be in South Africa and the 2014 tournament will be staged in Brazil. -AP
