With the races entering their final stage, the four nations will make their last pitches to the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in Lausanne.

Hockey New Zealand chief executive Malcolm Harris spoke today about his country's bid for the 2018 Women's World Cup - England is its only challenger for the event - and said that a five-strong team will make the presentation to hockey's world governing body.

"We've put together a short video highlighting the city, the venue where it will be played, and then the five presenters are taking their particular areas of expertise," he said.

"England are going to be a formidable competitor I think their commercial offer is going to be pretty good so it's going to be challenging, however I think we've got a couple of things up our sleeve."

England's bid, which is part of UK Sport's £27 million ($43 million/€32 million) Gold Event Series, does indeed present a strong challenge with the backing of the British Sports Minister Helen Grant and with London 2012 still fresh in the minds of many.

India is bidding to host the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup


"We have a clear goal to increase the visibility of hockey in England, which in turn will help drive participation and ultimately elite performance, and events such as the World Cup will be central to achieving these objectives," England Hockey chief executive Sally Munday said last month.

"Recent international hockey events have shown the large and passionate following in England for our national teams, boosted by our women's team winning a silver medal at last month's EuroHockey Championships.

"In addition to London hosting the 2015 EuroHockey Championships, the World Cup 2018 is one of a series of bids we've submitted to host international events in the coming years, aiming to continue the momentum we've generated and keep hockey in the forefront of the public's minds and mainstream media."

Meanwhile, Malaysia's bid for the men's event only gives the FIH two options - one proposing that the preliminary rounds be held in the cities of Kuantan and Johor Bahru before moving the final round to Kuala Lumpur, with the other to host the whole tournament in the capital.

Of all the bidders New Zealand is the only nation not to have hosted either the men's or the women's Hockey World Cup previously.

Australia had also been in the running to host either World Cup but last month advised the FIH that it was withdrawing its application due to technical and financial reasons.

The 2018 World Cups will feature an increased 16-nation field.

An announcement on which countries have been chosen is due to be made by the FIH at 8.30pm CET.

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September 2013: Australia, England, India, Malaysia and New Zealand bid to host 2018 Hockey World Cups