Coventry to stage London 2012 football competition

COVENTRY City will stage football matches during the London 2012 Olympics, organisers have confirmed.

CONFIRMED: The 32,609 capacity Ricoh Arena is the final piece in the Olympic venue jigsaw and will stage men's and women's football matches during London 2012

The Championship club's 32,609 seater Ricoh Arena venue will be renamed The City of Coventry Stadium for the Games due to Olympic regulations on branding.

Aston Villa’s Villa Park was originally slated as the Midlands venue for the Olympic football competition but club officials pulled out last year because of planned development work.

Derby County, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest had also expressed interest in staging the events at their grounds.

“The City of Coventry Stadium is a great venue, and will be an excellent host for football matches for the London 2012 Olympic Games,” said London 2012 chairman Lord Coe. 

“It is ideally located in the centre of England and the city already has strong links with London 2012. 

“I congratulate Coventry and extend my thanks to all the Midlands clubs who applied to be a venue. All were a very good standard, and this shows the excellent standards of football stadia in this country.”

The Ricoh Arena is now the sixth stadium in the UK which will host London 2012 football matches, joining Wembley, Old Trafford, Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, St James' Park in Newcastle and Glasgow's Hampden Park.

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, said: "Sitting at the heart of the Midlands, the City of Coventry Stadium is ideally located for thousands of people to come and watch the London 2012 football competition and be inspired to get involved in sport."