Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (Femexfut) has announced that it has withdrawn its bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 football World Cups due to the economic downturn.

Mexico, which previously staged the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, was one of a number of countries that had put itself forward as a candidate to host the tournament along with England, Indonesia and Japan. Qatar and South Korea have also submitted individual applications to FIFA, world football's governing body, while two joint bids have been launched; one by Belgium and Holland and the other by Spain and Portugal.

However, Femexfut said that it had been forced to withdraw Mexico's bid due to the global recession having a negative impact on the government's ability to finance the event. The federation also said that the required levels of investment in the country's football and transport infrastructure would be too great to meet with public or private funding in time for the tournament.

Jerome Valcke, FIFA secretary general, said: "We obviously fully respect this decision and are very much looking forward to continued cooperation with the Mexican Football Federation as another very nice goal approaches, namely the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2011, for which the preparations are well on track." FIFA is expected to decide the hosts of both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in December 2010.