The Committee unanimously passed a decision to abandon the principle originally introduced in 2000 of rotating the men's World Cup from continent to continent.
However one new rule will apply - the confederations whose associations have hosted the two preceding World Cups will not be eligible to bid.
“The rotation principle has served its purpose and has enabled us to award our most prestigious competition to Africa for the first time and, depending on tomorrow's decision, to South America for the first time in many years," commented FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
"Since several associations from different confederations have already declared their interest in bidding, the FIFA executive came to the conclusion that as from 2018 the bidding procedure should once again be open to all continents, except those parts of the world that have hosted the two previous tournaments."
As a consequence of the committee’s decision, all the associations from Asia, North and Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania and Europe may bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
