Fifa has dropped its policy of rotating the World Cup between continents, opening the way for England to bid to stage the tournament in 2018. The Football Association has expressed an interest in the event, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's backing.
But a number of other strong contenders are expected, including China, Russia, Australia and the USA or Mexico.
Countries belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments are barred from applying.
For 2018, that would rule out bids from Africa or South America, with South Africa hosting the tournament in 2010 and Brazil poised to be confirmed as 2014 hosts this week.
The decision is expected to be confirmed at a news conference later on Monday.
BBC Radio 5 Live's sports news correspondent Gordon Farquhar said Fifa thought they had made a "tactical mistake" in their rotation policy in that the continents were deciding internally who their candidates should be.
"It worked OK for Africa because there was competition but for South America, they all stood squarely behind Brazil and that was the only candidate put forward.
"I think there's a concern that when you do that you don't get the best possible outcome because you don't have candidates competing against one another."
With four continental bodies able to bid for 2018 (Asia, Oceania, Concacaf and Europe) Farquhar believes there will be a 2018 bid from Australia and is also anticipaing one from England.
"Who knows, there is the prospect of the US or even Canada, Jamaica or Mexico coming forward from Concacaf," he said
If i come across the table and take your f*****g eyes out ,will you remember
