BBC Sport - Football - World Cup vote: D-Day for England's 2018 bid hopes
Twenty-two Fifa executives hold the key to England's 2018 World Cup bid as the fate of its turbulent campaign will be decided on Thursday in Zurich.
England's main rival is likely to be the joint Spain/Portugal bid with Belgium/Netherlands and Russia also in the running.
Ex-England captain David Beckham, Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William are fronting the England pitch.
"To win would be unbelievable," said current England captain Rio Ferdinand.
"I'm old enough to remember when we had the last championships here - Euro 96 - and that will live with me forever.
"It will enable us to invest in the communities and the facilities that would have been put in place for the future. We would reap the rewards in getting more young people into sports."
England's big moment comes at 1000 GMT, when its five-man 2018 bid team makes its presentation to Fifa's executive committee - which will also decide the hosts of the 2022 competition on Thursday - with Russia presenting its World Cup case an hour later.
As well as Beckham, Cameron and Prince William, England 2018 chief executive Andy Anson and Eddie Afekafe, who works with a Manchester City community football programme, will go before the Fifa decision makers.
Sebastian Coe, who was key to London's successful 2012 Olympic bid, is a 2018 board member and has been providing strategic advice.
"There may well be Fifa executive committee members who think they are absolutely fixed in their view, and this is where they are going to go, but a really strong presentation, with a really clear message and some emotional appeal can make a difference," said Coe.
While Cameron has been in Zurich for most of the week his Russian counterpart Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has not travelled to Zurich.
Putin has claimed that Fifa has been the victim of a smear campaign and should be left to make its decision "in peace and without any outside pressure".
Spain and Portugal's bid team was also hoping that Cristiano Ronaldo would make an appearance, but the injured Real Madrid forward is unable to attend.
Fifa is expected to announce the 2018 winner about 1500 GMT, with the decision for the 2022 World Cup - being contested by Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea and the United States - to follow.
Iberian bid's chief executive Miguel Angel Lopez believes England is neck-and-neck with Spain and Portugal.
"We are confident, we are not certain. We think we will win, we have eight votes for sure and it looks like it will be against England in the final round," said Lopez.
With those eight votes, Spain and Portugal are likely to win the first round of voting, but England hope to stay in the running and then pick up the votes when Netherlands/Belgium are eliminated to overtake the Iberian bid.
In the event of a tie, Fifa president Sepp Blatter will have the casting vote.
If England does secure the right to stage the 2018 World Cup it would represent a remarkable turnaround given the furore that has engulfed world governing body Fifa over corruption allegations following exposes by the Sunday Times newspaper and a BBC Panorama programme.
Earlier this year England's bid was also hit by the resignation of Lord Triesman, who stood down as chairman of the Football Association as well as the England 2018 World Cup bid, after what he called his "entrapment" by the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
And on the eve of Thursday's vote, there was an unwelcome reminder of the dark days of English football, with violence at the end of Birmingham's win over city rivals Aston Villa at St Andrew's in the Carling Cup with police in riot gear clearing fans off the pitch.
"It doesn't look good," said Birmingham manager Alex McLeish. "It takes us back to the dark ages. When you see flares get thrown it's not something we want to be associated with.
"I don't think it will affect the bid, I'm sure that's already decided."
However Beckham, speaking before the Midlands derby, believes England's bid has all the ingredients to be successful.
"There is not one negative about having a World Cup in our country," said the former England skipper.
"Nowhere in the world has facilities like we do. I'm not just talking about stadiums but travel, hotels; all over the country we are set up for a big competition, so that's why we're ready."
Are you wumming or just thick? Proportionally, our problem (since you can only even pretend to have a coherent argument by pretending that one Mexican in Imperial Valley picking tomatoes for a low wage=one Bangladeshi with his passport seized, his movements restricted and contact with his home and family severed) is about one-sixths the size.