Cities to put case as 2018 hosts

England's World Cup bid leaders will begin inspection visits next week to those cities hoping to be part of the campaign for the 2018 or 2022 finals.

Some 15 cities, containing up to 22 possible venues, have registered their interest ahead of the 8 July deadline.

Two inspection teams from the England World Cup bid will visit all the cities over the next two months, starting at Bristol and finishing with Newcastle.

Each will have two inspections before a shortlist is drawn up by December.

Wembley Stadium will be the venue for the final, and Old Trafford is also certain to be included.

In London, as well as Wembley the other venues being put forward are Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, Tottenham's to-be-redeveloped White Hart Lane, and the 2012 Olympic Stadium in east London.

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Even if the arena is not chosen as a match host, it could still be put forward as a training venue where its reduced 25,000-capacity would be ideal for countries such as Brazil who attract huge crowds to practice sessions.

All the stadia must have a minimum capacity of 40,000 so for cities such as Bristol, Milton Keynes, Hull and Portsmouth they would have to expand their current grounds or use the tournament as an opportunity to build a new one.

The 15 city groups who have registered their interest are: Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle/Gateshead, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Sunderland.

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