The Dutch football association KNVB and prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende are to meet on July 5 to discuss the association’s plans to stage the football World Cup in 2018 together with Belgium..

‘We will set out our plans at that meeting,’ association chairman Harry Been told ANP. ‘The government’s financial support is important in that.’
The Netherlands and Belgium staged the European championship in 2000. ‘The Belgians are much more enthusiastic.’ The government has already allocated €500,000 and opened a special office,’ Been said.
The international football body Fifa will choose the winner in 2011. England is so far the only European nation to register its interest