A six-man delegation of FIFA inspectors is in Sydney examining the credentials of Australia's bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
The team, led by Chilean Football Federation President Harold Mayne-Nicholls, was treated to a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony welcome on the Sydney Opera House forecourt on the opening day of their three-day visit, Football Federation Australia said.
They were joined by FFA Chairman Frank Lowy and Federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis before hearing their first detailed briefing from the FFA Bid team.
Olympic 400m champion Cathy Freeman and former Socceroo striker John Aloisi later met the FIFA delegation.
Freeman relived her experience of winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games for the delegates at the scene of the event, the Olympic stadium, one of the major venues for the 2022 World Cup bid.
"We have a great record in holding major events and if we get a FIFA World Cup we would do a great job," Freeman told the inspection team.
Aloisi also recalled the night in 2005 when he put away the final penalty in a shootout against Uruguay to send the Socceroos to the FIFA World Cup in Germany for the first time in 32 years.
Australia is the third stop on a tour of the nine countries bidding to host the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup tournaments.
The FIFA delegation has already visited Japan and South Korea and will then go on to inspect the Netherlands-Belgium, who are making a joint bid, Russia, England, Spain-Portugal, the United States and Qatar and will draw up reports on the feasibility of each bid.
Japan, South Korea, Australia and Qatar -- all members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) -- have submitted bids for 2022 only, while the others are seeking to host either 2018 or 2022.
FIFA's 24 executives will choose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts on December 2 in Zurich.
Ten host cities have been selected as part of Australia's bid and three new stadiums will be built in Perth, Canberra and in western Sydney.
Nine other stadiums will be upgraded should the bid be successful, FFA said.
FIFA have informed FFA that its delegation visit is exclusively for the purpose of inspecting stadiums and other critical infrastructure and delegates will not be available for interview during their visit to Australia.
