England coach Fabio Capello threw his support behind the nation's bid to stage the 2018 World Cup on Wednesday.
England is one of 11 preliminary bids to stage the championship in nine years' time. The country has only held it once before - when it won the title in 1966 - and the Italian said it was time it returned to England.
"England is a fantastic place for the World Cup," Capello said.
"Football needs to be back in England after a lot of years and I hope it will be here in 2018 because we need another time, the World Cup.
"I think England needs, football needs (it) back home."
The other expressions of interest lodged with FIFA by Tuesday's deadline were United States, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Qatar, Russia, Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal.
FIFA, which will also decide the host of the 2022 World Cup during the same process, will now ask each bidder to fill out a detailed form and send it back by March 16. The host for each tournament will be chosen in December 2010.
Sapa-AP Worldcupweb.com