HOT on the heels of the World Cup in South Africa, FIFA kicked off a whirlwind two-month tour yesterday to inspect nine candidates vying to host the 2018 or 2022 tournaments, the first stop in Japan.

A five-member team from soccer’s world governing body arrived in the western megacity of Osaka on a four-day trip to see stadiums, facilities and presentations there and in Tokyo.

They will go on to South Korea, Australia, the Netherlands-Belgium (joint bid), Russia, England, Spain-Portugal, the United States and Qatar in that order and draw up reports on the feasibility of each bid.

FIFA’s 24 executives will choose the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts Dec. 2 in Zurich.

The team, led by Chilean Football Federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls, was to inspect by helicopter the site in Osaka for an 83,000-seat stadium, which would host the opening match and final.

The structure, tentatively named Osaka Ecology Stadium, will be built on a former railway yard by the city’s central station.

The inspectors included FIFA event management chief Juergen Mueller and marketing head David Fowler.