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Australia has a better than 50-50 chance of hosting the World Cup for the first time in 2018 or 2022, the country’s top soccer official said.

“It is not a reckless gamble,” Football Federation Australia Chairman Frank Lowy said today in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra. “The prize is too big not to go for it. And we have a better than even chance.”

Australia faces competition from 10 other bidders to host the most-watched sports event, including England, Russia, the U.S. and 2002 co-hosts Japan and South Korea. The executive committee of world governing body FIFA will decide the hosts in December, 2010.

Staging the World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup a year earlier would boost Australia’s A$1.1 trillion ($890 billion) economy by A$5.3 billion and create about 74,000 jobs, the FFA said, citing estimates by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

The World Cup “totally dwarfs all other major sporting events and even out-rivals the Olympics,” added Lowy, Australia’s second-richest person according to BRW Magazine’s annual list.

Successful candidates must provide evidence that they have 10 stadiums capable of seating 45,000 soccer fans and another two with a capacity of 80,000, Lowy said today. The winner must also provide assurances on infrastructure, security and legacy.

While Sydney’s ANZ Stadium and the Melbourne Cricket Ground already satisfy the larger requirements, Lowy said “significant investment” would be needed in new and existing stadiums to meet the other needs.

Winning bids require 13 votes from FIFA’s 24-member executive committee. The other bidders are Indonesia, Mexico, Qatar and joint-proposals from Spain and Portugal and Belgium and the Netherlands. FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in January that he favors individual candidates.

“Our competitors are all worthy in different ways; and all, except perhaps two, can mount a reasonable case,” Lowy said. “We have embarked on a Herculean task. Victory would fulfill our wildest dreams.”

(Source: Bloomberg)