2018 Bid Cities Announced

Milton Keynes, Bristol and Plymouth could host World Cup matches in 2018 after they were included in a shortlist of English host cities.


Sunderland, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle-Gateshead and Liverpool were also on the list announced by England's bid team.

Derby, Hull and Leicester are the three cities which missed out.

The final decision on host cities, should England's bid prove successful, will be made by FIFA in 2013.

Between them the candidate cities have made more than £300 million worth of financial guarantees towards the World Cup if it comes to England with £100m towards legacy and urban regeneration projects.

The funding is in addition to the £300m of FIFA-required guarantees signed off by the British government on Tuesday.

England is one of 10 bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups which will be jointly announced by FIFA next year.

Australia, Netherlands/Belgium, Russia, Japan, United States, Spain/Portugal and England are bidding for both 2018 and 2022 while Qatar, South Korea and Indonesia are bidding for 2022 only.

Brian Mawhinney, chairman of the England 2018 technical bid panel said: "The whole of football has worked in partnership throughout this process and it is significant that eight Premier League clubs and six Football League clubs' stadiums will be named in our bid book to FIFA. Additionally, many other clubs are under consideration as training venues.

"We are committed to producing a technical bid that exceeds FIFA's requirements and we believe the outstanding work of the candidate host cities we will now be putting forward gives us the best chance to do this and be successful at the vote in December 2010.

"Our candidate host cities provide an exciting mix of iconic venues, stadiums that can be extended and brand new builds. Importantly this process ensures our cities are 100 per cent compliant with FIFA's technical criteria and that crucial guarantees have been signed ahead of our submission to FIFA on May14, 2010."

The stadiums on the list compiled by England 2018 are:

London: Wembley, Emirates Stadium, new White Hart Lane/Olympic Stadium

Birmingham: Villa Park

Manchester: City of Manchester Stadium, Old Trafford

Nottingham: New Nottingham Forest ground

Leeds: Elland Road

Sheffield: Hillsborough

Newcastle: St James' Park

Bristol: New Ashton Vale stadium

Plymouth: Home Park

Liverpool: Anfield or new Anfield

Milton Keynes: Stadium MK

Sunderland: Stadium of Light

Eurosport / Reuters