Nottingham is a candidate city for 2018 World Cup

NOTTINGHAM has been named as a candidate city in the nation's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

The Football Association unveiled a list of cities, which will go forward to the sport's world governing body, FIFA, at 3pm today.

Nottingham has been included, but the city has been told it will have to build a new stadium in order to host matches. If it fails to do so it would drop out of the running.

It had been feared the lack of a stadium compliant with FIFA specifications, combined with disputes between Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council over the location of a new ground may have undermined Notts' bid.

However, many elements of the bid have been praised, including plans for a World Cup park along the River Trent, innovative fan festivals and ambitious plans for women's football, including making a new stadium, a 'Wembley for Women'.

Talking about the Nottingham bid, selection panel chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "It was not our job to second guess local political considerations that's for the politicians to do.

"We didn't do that but I will tell you something about the Nottingham bid which the people of Nottingham can be proud of. The rest of the packet of the bid – the transportation, the accommodation, the security, all of that stuff was very impressive."

All decisions were unanimous.

He added: "We, as a bid team, are looking forward. We wanted to say to Fifa: 'We are looking at legacy and legacy is about tomorrow'.

"We heard enough about the new stadiums to put them on the list and we hope that will give local people the confidence to deliver them."

Coun Jon Collins, leader of Nottingham City Council, said: "It is very important for Nottingham that we will be on the world stage because of the investment it will bring to the city and the opportunities it will offer to local people."

He said "the door is always open" to Notts County Council to rejoin the partnership to promote Nottingham as a World Cup host city.

The county council withdrew in a dispute over proposals to build a new stadium on land east of Gamston.

Coun Collins said: "The door is always open for the county and other local authorities to be a part of the process moving forward to come back on board. We have always been clear this is a partnership bid which we pursue in the interests of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, and Nottingham Forest. The greater involvement would add significantly to deliver the best possible experience."

Leicester and Derby, the other cities in the East Midlands which had asked to be considered, failed to make the grade.

Also included are Wembley, Old Trafford, Birmingham, The City of Manchester Stadium, The Emirates, Elland Road in Leeds, Hillsborough in Sheffield, St James' Park in Newcastle, The Stadium of Light in Sunderland, Bristol Ashton Gate, Plymouth and Milton Keynes.

The bid outlined four stadia as potential venues, but only two will be chosen to make up the full 15 venues which need to be submitted to Fifa.

White Hart Lane or the Olympic stadium will be chosen, and then either Anfield or the new Anfield development, depending on whether the building work is completed in time.

Fifa will choose 12 of the 15 venues if the World Cup bid is a success.

It is proposed to build the stadium in Nottingham on land east of Gamston. The development would include 4,500 new homes, as well as offices, hotels and sports facilities.

England is the favourite to be chosen as the 2018 World Cup host from a list of eight potential candidates.

Bookmakers William Hill has given odds of 7/4. Second favourite is a joint bid by Spain and Portugal on 9/4.

Others include Australia on 3/1, Russia on 9/2, while Indonesia is way out at 50/1.

Alec Hickton, 66, from West Bridgford, was delighted with the news.

He said: "Geographically we're very well situated to get into from other cities. It would be good for Nottingham as it would bring people into the hotels etc and it would also raise the profile of the city.

"If we're going to host that amount of people we'll need a new ground for that sort of crowd, so where they'd actually put it, I don't know. It probably ought to be somewhere north of the river to make it more accessible."

Michael Everitt, 36, a plasterer from Silverdale, said: "It would be great to have the World Cup down here, being able to take the kids to a proper World Cup game. We've got plenty of accommodation and plenty of things to do. It would be fantastic."