The motion, which gave eligible nations until August 11 to enter the race for the tournament, passed with a 93 per cent majority.

It came after the Council rejected a proposal from the United States, Canada and Mexico to fast-track their bid.

They instead opted to allow other nations to submit an expression of interest in hosting the competition before the deadline.

The expedited process for the 2026 event will see the host nation decided at next year's FIFA Congress on June 13 in Moscow, held prior to the opening match of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Countries from the member associations of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) have been invited to bid.

As part of current World Cup rotation rules, UEFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) are not eligible as Russia and Qatar are hosting the 2018 and 2022 editions respectively.

They will be granted the opportunity to launch an attempt to stage the competition if any of the candidates for 2026 fail to meet FIFA's requirements, however.

Morocco are the only other mooted potential bidder for 2026, but may reconsider in the face of competition from North America. 

"Should the 68th FIFA Congress not select any candidate host associations, the FIFA general secretariat will invite further member associations - including the member associations of AFC and UEFA and excluding those member associations that submitted a bid initially - to submit a bid to host the final competition of the 2026 FIFA World Cup," the proposal states.

Officials from within the North American joint effort insisted yesterday that their bid would be totally free from any wrongdoing.

CONCACAF has been at the heart of the widespread corruption scandal.

The decision was one of several taken at today's Congress, where every motion put to the membership passed with next to no opposition.

The Council had decided on Tuesday (May 9) not to put amendments to the FIFA statutes - including possible changes to the World Cup rotation policy - forward to the Congress.

It was therefore taken off the agenda.

A working group will be established to "conduct a general review and reinforcement of the FIFA Statutes before submitting any amendments", FIFA said.

"The composition of the working group will be determined by the Bureau of the Council and will be communicated in due course," added the Council statement.

Had the changes gone through, it would have been seen as a boost to China's potential bid for the 2030 World Cup.

The detailed budget for 2018 - which outlines a total investment of nearly $2.9 billion (£2.2 billion/€2.7 billion) - was also unanimously approved.