SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Sports Commission President Alan Kidd and Carolyn Wormser, the city government's director of special events, are scheduled to attend a reception in New York City Monday as part of the campaign to have soccer's World Cup played in the United States in 2018 or 2022.

A six-person inspection delegation from FIFA, soccer's worldwide governing body, will begin its visit to the United States Monday.

Because bidding rules limit the delegation to spending 72 hours in each bidding nation, all 18 U.S. cities seeking to be selected as venues for games should the U.S. bid be successful were asked to send delegations to New York City to attend a private reception for the FIFA officials at the St. Regis Hotel.

The FIFA Inspection Delegation will also visit the Washington, D.C., Miami, Dallas and Houston areas.

San Diego is among the 18 cities that were narrowed from a pool of 27 originally considered to potentially host World Cup matches. Ultimately, only 12 cities will actually host World Cup matches.

The 24-member FIFA Executive Committee will make its decision on the host nations for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups Dec. 2.

England and Russia are both seeking to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022, while Belgium and the Netherlands and Portugal and Spain have made joint bids for both tournaments. Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea are seeking to host the 2022 World Cup.

The 2014 World Cup will be played in Brazil.

The United States was the site of the 1994 World Cup, which drew 3,587,538 fans, the most in history.