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Nottingham wins race to be part of England's 2018 World Cup bid

Councillor Jon Collins, Leader of Nottingham City Council, which has led the Nottingham bid team, said: "It's fantastic news that we have achieved our goal of Nottingham being chosen by the FA as a Candidate Host City for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

"The bid team has secured this opportunity for Nottingham. Now it's up to all the partners involved - particularly Nottingham Forest FC and potential developers - to ensure we capitalise on this opportunity by driving forward the stadium development proposal that our successful hosting depends on.

"A lot of hard work has been put into putting together a very high quality bid that clearly demonstrates why Nottingham is an ideal choice as a Host City for England 2018.

"Huge credit must go to everyone involved but particularly Hugh White from the City Council who led Nottingham's bid team and also Peter Kearns from Gleeds who helped oversee the project.

"We've shown today that Nottingham is a city that delivers on its ambition. Now, we are excited about working with the other Candidate Host Cities and the FA to secure the 2018 FIFA World Cup for England."

Nottingham's bid highlighted the city's profile as a place of world renown thanks in large part to our legendary outlaw Robin Hood and the footballing heritage of Nottingham Forest and Notts County Football Clubs.

The centrepiece of the bid is a planned new carbon-responsible stadium which will be a new home for Nottingham Forest and a new national stadium for women's football - a Wembley for Women - as well as a major community sport and leisure facility for local people.

Councillor Collins added:"Our bid has been very well supported by people from across the whole of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and further afield.

"The World Cup will be a huge event in Nottingham and of huge benefit to Nottingham if England is successful in winning the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It's potentially worth more than £130 million to the local economy, creating business for local firms and jobs for local people.

"As well as hosting matches, Nottingham will be one of the best places for foreign fans to base themselves wherever their team is playing. We have the best hotels and the best cultural offer in the region and our tourism offer means that many fans wanting to do more than watch football will want to visit the home of Robin Hood whilst in England."

Mark Arthur, Chief Executive of Nottingham Forest, said: "We are delighted and relieved that the city has cleared the first hurdle. Its important now that we work closely with other candidate host cities to ensure that England's bid is as good as it can be and stands up to FIFA's stringent criteria."

Source:www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk|

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