Location, location, location. The key to Bristol's hopes of hosting World Cup football in 2018 could well be highlighted by a closer examination of the venues for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Bristol's new ambassador Gary Mabbutt MBE has spent the past eight years working on the South African bid and subsequent preparation for the most watched sporting event in the world.

And his feedback from the selection process for host venues on Africa's southern tip points in Bristol's favour.

As the sixth biggest city in England, Bristol perhaps deserves its place at the 2018 World Cup table as of right.

But without a Premier League team, and suffering from an outdated perception in some quarters (quarters probably yet to visit the city) that football features lower down the local agenda despite an enormous appetite for the sport, the city's inclusion could centre on its stunning tourist attractions and location as a gateway to the West Country.

The Bristol 2018 team have been focusing the city's bid as a regional effort in an attempt to divert attention away from the cluster of other applicants in the Midlands and around the Pennines and stamp the importance of the West's inclusion in England's bid.

If Bristol and the late bid by Plymouth are overlooked, the closest possible venues would be Birmingham and Portsmouth, leaving a huge hole in a map of the country's participation in the World Cup.

Mabbutt told the Evening Post: "People were always thinking in South Africa that the World Cup venues were just going to be situated in the larger areas but you have got Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Rustenberg and Bloemfontein, probably areas people didn't think the World Cup would go and be all inclusive.

"That's why, for me, where Bristol is situated in the country with the road and rail networks it has, it gives the city a very good starting position."

Port Elizabeth is a good comparison of the nine cities selected to be part of the 2010 tournament. It holds a unique location in the Eastern Cape and is the country's sixth largest city.

By contrast Bloemfontein ranks 10th, Rustenburg 19th and Nelspruit and Polokwane outside the top 20 largest cities in South Africa.

These four cities though draw in the populations located in South Africa's northern areas, demonstrate the all-inclusive attitude of the organisers and will no doubt tempt visitors across the border from Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

The sparsely populated Skeleton Coast in the West lacks a stadium of its own but there proved to be no suitable location, transport links or desire for one in that particular area, according to Mabbutt.

The Bristol Rovers legend, who began his football career at the Pirates' old Eastville ground before being snapped up by Spurs, cites the rolling wilds of Exmoor and the beaches of North Devon as his favourite parts of England.

They provide an additional draw for potential World Cup tourists as well as home to local people keen to share in a World Cup experience.

"One of the reasons Nelspruit was chosen was because it borders the Kruger National Park," said Mabbutt. "All those things need to be looked at."

With the Brecon Beacons and the South West peninsular on its doorstep, containing Cornwall, the Moors and Mabbutt's favourite North Devon coast, Bristol would be an attractive option for the England 2018 team's portfolio.