Liverpool Football Club (LFC) and Everton Football Club (EFC) have been told to share a new stadium, to ensure Liverpool is included in England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool City Council (LCC) and head of the city's 2018 bid committee, told the Observer newspaper that a new, shared stadium at Stanley Park was required as neither of the club's current grounds meet FIFA's World Cup criteria. Bradley told the newspaper: "We recognise the Fifa criteria that both clubs must have 40,000-plus seats available to the paying public that doesn't include VIPs. I don't believe either club is in a position to satisfy that criteria, so therefore something needs to be done quickly.

EFC is currently waiting on the result of a public inquiry into its plans for a new 50,000-seat stadium at Kirkby, while LFC has put the development of a new 73,000-seat stadium at Stanley Park on hold due to the economic downturn. However, Bradley added: "Having looked at the books of both clubs, at the moment about 70 per cent of the bottom line goes to hard infrastructure. If they shared a stadium they could cut that down to about 30 to 35 per cent and the rest could go on footballers."