By Andrew Fraser BBC Sport

Olympic chiefs believe the formation of a British football team should form a key part of the campaign to bring the Games to London in 2012.

Britain is currently prevented from fielding a united team at the Olympics as it would jeopardise the independent status of the English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish football associations.

But Fifa president Sepp Blatter has agreed to examine the possibility of making an exception for the Olympics.

And British Olympic Association chairman Craig Reedie told this website that staging the Games in London without the involvement of any of Britain's football stars would be unthinkable.

Creating a British team would be a political minefield

"Football is the number one sport in the country. Can you imagine running an Olympic Games in Britain without a British football team?" said Reedie.

"I'm absolutely certain that Fifa will do everything they possibly can to find a way of a British team taking part and that seemed to me to be exactly what president Blatter was saying the last time he was in London.

"He's already thinking of mechanisms of making that work and I think it would be very good.

"I see no reason why this should become an issue with Fifa provided it is quite clear that this is a one-off event in a London Olympic Games and it would not affect the status of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland."

London is competing against Paris, Madrid, New York, Rio, Moscow, Leipzig, Istanbul and Havana for 2012 in what looks set to be one of the most competitive bidding wars ever.

London's bid team plans to stage the Olympic football competition at stadia around the country if it wins hosting rights.

The formation of a British side would have to be agreed by 2005, when London's bid will be examined by the Interntional Olympic Committee's evaluation commission ahead of the final vote.

Blatter said recently: "I can say that when our new statutes are discussed at Fifa's congress in October there will be no objection to the four British associations, or if there is only a very small group.

There has been no enthusiasm for a Great Britain team in Scotland as a whole Scottish FA spokesman

"We will have no objections, but the team has to play under the name Great Britain."

The four home nations have maintained their separate identities since effectively creating international football in the 19th century.

A possible way round the problem could be to hold a mini play-off, with the winning country playing in the Olympics as Great Britain.

But Northern Ireland have already expressed "reservations" about the concept, and the Scottish FA's board of directors are due to discuss the issue next week.

Scottish FA head of communications Andy Mitchell told this website: "The general principle is that we would not do anything that would undermine the position of Scotland as an independent football nation.

"There has been no enthusiasm for a Great Britain team in Scotland as a whole."

An English FA spokesman said: "We would have to look at it very carefully in conjunction with the other national associations and Fifa to see that it was not something that would jeopardise our current position within the Fifa family."

Football Association of Wales president Des Shanklin said last month: "It sounds good, but I think there will be a lot of discussions about it before anything happens."