US Soccer today formally launched simultaneous bids to host world football's crown jewel, having last hosted the tournament in 1994.

Gulati, the president of US Soccer, claims the wave of good feeling that has followed Obama's arrival in Washington could give a boost to both Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics and his own organisation's attempt to face down 11 rival bids for a future World Cup.

"I don't think there's any doubt that with the events of the past few months there is a dramatically changed view of the United States around the world and that is clearly a positive, frankly, for Chicago or any bid we present for the 2018 or 2022 World Cups," Gulati said.

Gulati unveiled a high-powered bid committee today with himself as chairman. Also in is Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber, MLS executive director David Downs, US Soccer CEO Dan Flynn, and Phil Murphy, who has links with the new political administration after working as the national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Asked if President Obama had given his approval of the World Cup bids, Gulati joked: "We thought we'd give him a few days to resolve some more pressing issues."

He then added: "Given everything President Obama has said...we imagine this (bid) will be viewed in a very positive way."

The American bid was formally submitted to FIFA last Friday, ahead of today's deadline to express an interest.

Bidding federations will have until May 2010 to submit their final paperwork, which FIFA's 24-man Executive Committee will review and then name the separate hosts for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups in December 2010.

"The World Cup is the greatest sporting event in the world, and to have the opportunity to host it once again is an honour, but also an incredible challenge," Gulati said.

"We are confident we can put together a successful bid to host another impressive event, and invite fans from around the world to enjoy the world's game in our country."

Gulati pointed to the infrastructure already in place in the United States as a key strength of the US bid as between 25 and 40 venues already meet FIFA criteria.

"We haven't reached out to cities yet," he said. "We've had some reach out to us.

"We have 25, 30, 35, 40 venues in the country as well as some not built yet, and there's plenty of time.

"We'd need guarantees but our bid would include anywhere between 25 and 35 cities with signed guarantees that we could present in the bid. We have a lot of options across the country."