AUGUST 5, 2002

Melbourne and Sydney join forces to bid for World Cup

Melbourne and Sydney have traditionally been in competition to be Australia's best-known city but the two have now joined forces to bid for the Soccer World Cup in 2014. Victorian state premier Steve Bracks will join forces with New South Wales's Bob Carr to launch the bid which would see the World Cup in Australia.

"The World Cup is the world's biggest single sporting event and as such any bid must have the support of both state and federal governments," said Bracks, who currently presides over the Australian GP in Melbourne, one of the events which helped to put Melbourne on the global map. The city is scheduled to host the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and is also bidding for other events to fill the gap between then and 2014.

The Grand Prix is expected to stay in Melbourne until at least 2010 unless the current legal problems cannot be solved.