Villa Park, the home stadium of Premiership club Aston Villa, withdrew yesterday because they could not guarantee London officials that planned redevelopment work could be finished in time for 2012.

 

 

It has left the 32,609 capacity Ricoh Arena as the favourite to stage matches in the Midlands.

 

The venue comfortably meets the strict International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines which state venues must have an all-seater stadium with at least a 30,000 capacity and be able to provide high quality corporate entertainment.

Daniel Gidney, chief executive of the Ricoh Arena, claimed the venue would be perfect for football in the 2012 Olympics.

He said: “We have been announced as a venue to host pool matches for the Rugby World Cup in 2015 which proves we have the facilities and organisational abilities to meet the demands of running an international tournament.

“As well as being the home of Coventry City, we have experience of staging international football matches since we secured a sell-out attendance at an England under-21 qualifier against Germany.
 

“We also have great transport links since we are located near the M6 and we have two international airports within a 45-minute drive.
 

“We meet the requirements of having an all-seater stadium and this would be an ideal way of further showcasing the Ricoh to a world-wide audience.”
 

Hosting the Olympic football tournament could also see the players accommodated in the region and teams using venues in the area as pre-Games training camps.

Other venues on the list include Wembley, Hampden Park, the Millennium Stadium, Old Trafford and St James' Park.
 

The bid from the Ricoh Arena is expected to be supported by Coventry City Council and Advantage West Midlands and a decision is expected to be made by London 2012 before the end of the year.

 

The stadium would have to be renamed because under the IOC guidelines venues are not allowed to be known by sponsors names.

 

Officials from the Ricoh Arena have already told London 2012 organisers that they can accommodate this and it will not be a problem.
 

Tom Clift, the manager of the Coventry and Warwickshire 2012 Partnership, said: “Being selected to host an Olympic sport as part of the London 2012 Games would be immense and a tremendous honour.
 

“You only have to look at the 2005 International Children’s Games, 2007 UK School Games, the Heineken Cup and England under-21 internationals, to see that Coventry and Warwickshire is highly capable of staging Olympic football and I can think of few venues better equipped than the Ricoh Arena.
 

“This truly represents a once in a life time opportunity for Coventry and Warwickshire to engage fully in the 2012 Games and to bring the Olympic experience alive for all communities and the West Midlands region.
 

“Hosting an event like this could also have significant benefits for the local economy and be a huge inspiration to local communities to participate and get involved in sport.”

 

As exclusively revealed on insidethegames earlier, Birmingham City Council Leader Mike Whitby has written to London 2012 putting forward Birmingham City's St. Andrew's ground and Nottingham City Council have also launched an early bid for the City Ground to be chosen.

 

Pride Park, the home of Derby County, and the Walkers Stadium, where Leicester City play, are also expected to put in bids.