DAVID Ginola believes England would stand a good chance of winning the 2018 World Cup if they are chosen to host the tournament.

The Frenchman, who spent seven years of his playing career in England and earned hero status at Newcastle United, was yesterday named as an ambassador for the country’s World Cup bid.

England have shown a remarkable improvement since the appointment of Fabio Capello as head coach in December 2007, and his side are among the favourites for this summer’s World Cup.

Should Capello’s men triumph it will be the first time that England have won the competition since they did so on home soil in 1966.

Ginola, who enjoyed the best period of his career at St James’ Park believes hosting the tournament could significantly improve England’s chances of World Cup glory in 2018.

‘‘When you are playing in your home country in the World Cup as a football player that must be something really special,’’ said Ginola, who was left out of the France squad that went on to be crowned world champions on home turf in 1998.

‘‘When you are playing for your country you are so proud about it and when you are not involved you are so depressed about not being involved, so I guess it must be a fantastic feeling, just the fact that the target will be for the players to get to the final at Wembley.

‘‘It would be a tremendous push for them every day in training, every single game until the final.’’ Ginola, now 42, suspects England may not have to wait until 2018 to lift the trophy though as he believes they could go all the way this summer.

‘‘Capello has brought great discipline to the team. He has brought some confidence, he has the players worried about playing for England,’’ said Ginola, who was part of the NewcastleGateshead bid which was selected to form part of the England 2018 campaign.

‘‘Because of that I guess England have to be one of my favourites for South Africa.’’ The flamboyant Frenchman was a popular figure within the game during his time in England and he likes the country so much that he moved back to live in England six months ago.

‘‘Moving back to this country when you are living in the south of France wasn’t an easy decision to make,’’ he explained.

‘‘When I was asked to become an ambassador I was delighted because I think it’s a wonderful opportunity as a Frenchman to show the entire world the quality of England in terms of its football, organisation and passion, so it was a straight yes from me.’’ The final decision about who will host the tournament will be made in December and Ginola insists everything is in place for England to be successful.

‘‘There is a lot of passion in the English game,’’ said Ginola, who joined Newcastle from Paris St Germain in 1995.

‘‘As a foreigner when I arrived the first thing I realised about the country was the passion. Not only the passion on the pitch but it was all over the place.

‘‘We need to be very down to earth about the bid. There are other bids but I think everything is set up well for (England in) 2018 to host the perfect World Cup.’’ Some English fans have been criticised for their behaviour at previous World Cups and the rare sight of a flare in the crowd at the Manchester derby on Tuesday could have unsettled bid organisers.

Ginola moved to quickly to deny that hooliganism would affect England’s chances of hosting the competition though.

‘‘In seven years of playing football in this country I never experienced something bad on the pitch or off it,’’ he said.