Olympic Stadium included on England 2018 World Cup venue shortlist

LONDON 2012's Olympic Stadium has been named on the shortlist of venues to be included in England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

EITHER OR: The England 2018 World Cup bid selection panel have presented both the new White Hart Lane and the Olympic Stadium in their bid book

Football League and selection panel chairman Lord Mawhinney announced the 12 cities/towns that will be submitted as part of the official England bid book, with a decision on the host nation expected next December.

In total 17 stadia were announced with two ‘either/or' options, as the bid team hedge their bets on the proposed construction of the new Anfield and the new White Hart Lane Stadium, in addition to the Olympic Stadium.

Fifa rules state that there can be a maximum of three stadia per city and with Wembley and the Emirates Stadium already chosen, the selection panel opted to pick the new White Hart Lane stadium or the Olympic Stadium.

Tottenham Hotspur do not yet have planning permission for their proposed new ground while the debate rages over the post-Games future of the 80,000 capacity Olympic Stadium.

And with the future of both stadia still uncertain, Lord Mawhinney revealed the panel had decided to take the best course of action by naming both.

"With White Hart Lane and the Olympic Stadium we ran up against a problem where other people's timetables are different to our timetables," he said.

"The new White Hart Lane stadium is going to be iconic but at the moment they are at the planning stage and they expect to get a decision early in the New Year.

"With regards to the Olympic Stadium there is a debate going on with it and we are not involved in that debate.

"There are those that want to see it remain an 80,000 stadium and host sporting events appropriate for a stadium of that size and those that want to see it reduced to a 25,000 stadium.

"It's a decision that we do not get to make."

The initial intention for the Olympic Stadium was to reduce the capacity to approximately 25,000 with its primary purpose to be track and field - a proposal backed by Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, who is wary of the £176 million it could cost to maintain at Olympics capacity until 2018.

However, Mayor of London Boris Johnson, along with Shadow Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson, wants to see the stadium maintained at its full size and utilised for potentially lucrative events, such as the 2015 Rugby World Cup or even Twenty20 cricket.

In order to be considered for the 2018 bid, a stadium must have a capacity of 40,000 ensuring the Olympic Stadium would either remain at its current size, or be reduced to somewhere in the region of 50,000.

However, London 2012 chairman Lord Sebastian Coe remains adamant no decision will be made until the Olympic Park Legacy Company, headed by Baroness Ford, have conducted their ongoing review. 

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Coe, speaking after the IOC co-ordination commission completed their fifth visit to London last month.

"Firstly there is a bid to be won. But the beauty of the [Olympic] Stadium is the flexibility of its design.

"Since we last met with the IOC we have the Olympic Park Legacy Company, which will scrutinise all of the judgments that need to be made.

"The role of the Olympic Park Legacy Company is to look into legacy. And at the moment they are exactly where they should be."

The 11 cities/towns selected aside from London are Sheffield, Plymouth, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol, Sunderland, Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds and Milton Keynes.

The three cities to miss out were Hull, Derby and Leicester.

But there could be a consolation - Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Coventry are all bidding to take Villa Park's place as a host for the football competition of the London 2012 Olympics.