Bristol has the potential to be the next Barcelona if it wins the right to help stage the 2018 football World Cup – according to Bristol Rugby chairman Chris Booy.

When local businessman Booy took over the club in February he said he didn't settle for the ordinary – and he believes his city shouldn't either.

Inclusion in England's 2018 football World Cup bid would benefit sport across Bristol he told the Evening Post ahead of today's visit by a delegation from the England 2018 World Cup bid team.

He said it would put the city on the international map and propel the capital of the West into the same bracket as cities such as Barcelona – which benefited enormously from the 1992 Olympic Games.

"As a Bristolian I think we have a great city, but it doesn't get the recognition it deserves," said Booy, 56, whose construction company Capita Symonds helped complete the new Wembley Stadium.

"Bristol should be on the international stage. The new stadium at Ashton Vale would be a great stadium for the football World Cup but also for future Rugby World Cup matches."

Last month England was chosen as the preferred host for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and while Bristol was not included in the original list of proposed stadiums, Booy is adamant no decisions have yet been made and the tournament could provide the perfect prelude to the football World Cup in 2018.

"We will lobby hard to get Bristol involved in 2015 as nothing is set in stone as I understand it," said Booy.

"Once we can convince everybody the stadium is happening, why not?"

A planning application has been submitted to Bristol City Council for the Ashton Vale stadium with a decision expected in mid-October.

Booy is advising Bristol City chief executive Colin Sexstone and the club's chairman Steve Lansdown on a personal basis while his Portishead-based company, of which he is now a non-executive chairman, is independently contracted to provide consultancy work on the stadium project.

"I know Bristol Rovers are also working very hard to get their new stadium built," he added.

"And by (2018) it should be another fine venue in the city which could be used as a fantastic training venue for visiting teams."

Bristol Rovers have planning permission for an 18,000 seat stadium which would be too small for consideration by Fifa as a World Cup stadium.

Gloucestershire CCC's County Ground is another central training venue being considered by the Bristol bid team.

Today the bid team are showing nine delegates from the England 2018 team around Bristol as part of a "collaborative" visit to assist the city with its bid and provide feedback on the proposals in the initial bid document, submitted last week.

The visiting party will be split into three groups to review the initial recommendations for training sites, hospitality facilities, potential fan fest sites, marketing plans, hotels and team base camps as well as the progress of the new stadium in Ashton Vale.

If Bristol were involved in both the rugby and football World Cups it would herald an unprecedented "decade of sport" for the region, with the city also set to host the Kenyan Olympic team in 2012.

It would be the perfect preparation to help satisfy a risk-averse FIFA that the city is more than ready to host World Cup football.

"The legacy (of staging the 2018 World Cup) is putting us on the international map," said Booy. "It would be great for business and sport. It puts us on the world stage like Barcelona and the Olympics."

Bristol has flirted with life on the world stage before with the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Ashton Gate secured a single match, between New Zealand and Tonga, and the buzz of the occasion still enthuses the new Bristol Rugby chairman.

"It was a brilliant atmosphere," said Booy, who was at the game.